“I’ve won a lot of golf tournaments, but I’ve never led a tournament from start to finish,” said the two-time IGT Tour winner. “And I’ve never led a tournament going into a final round, either. I feel like I’ve turned a huge corner after pulling this off.”
The 21-year-old from Wingate Park fired rounds of 67 and 68 to start the final round with a five stroke lead over Tristen Strydom, Englishman Greg Blainey and amateur Andrew Carlsson.
Although he was unable to repeat the pyrotechnics of his first two trips around the links-style layout, Conradie kept ahead of the pack in the blustery conditions.
“The conditions was tough,” said the Wanna Be A Champion Academy player after he closed out with a 71 to seal a four stroke victory on 10 under 206.
“The wind was already up when we started and it just kept building. By the time we turned, we had a three-club wind to contend with on the back nine. I started with two pars and got a little comfortable, but a three-putt bogey at the third woke me up.
“I drained a 25 foot putt at the fourth to get back to level and two-putted for birdie at the fifth. At the next par five (seven), I holed another birdie putt and then I just racked up a run of pars until I hit my tee shot in the hazard right on 12. I punched out, but I left my third shot short of the green and didn’t up and down to save par.”
Conradie chipped to tap-in distance at 13 for another birdie, but lost the advantage at the next hole.
“It was really difficult to judge the wind and this time I hit it in the hazard left,” he said. “I hit a great drive down the fairway at 16 and had 100 metres in, but I hit my wedge 15 metres past the pin and misread the putt for another soft bogey.
“Those last couple of holes was very frustrating, even with a couple of shots in hand, so it was nice to finish with a solid par at 17 and a birdie at 18. This victory means more to me than my breakthrough win at the Centurion Classic earlier this year.
“For one, the first one was kind of in my back yard, but this one came at a course I don’t know that well and I had to work for it. I had to cope with the pressure of playing out front and it was a really lesson. My game stood up under the pressure, so I am really pleased with this result.”
Conradie’s younger brother Estiaan is a three-time winner this season on the country’s premier golf development circuit and the champion was happy to close the gap.
“Estiaan has held the bragging rights for a couple of months, but the gap is down to one and hopefully I win another one soon to shut him up,” quipped Conradie. “He’ll probably say it’s because he didn’t play this week, but time will tell.”
Meanwhile Jonathan Waschefort carded a 69 to take second on six under.
The Pretoria professional shared the low round of the day honours with former IGT Tour champion Coert Groenewald, Damian Naicker and 14-year-old Benoni amateur Jayden Schaper, who mixed five birdies with a double bogey to finish at 11th at two over 218.
Final Result
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as AMA.
206 - Ruan Conradie AMA 67 68 71
210 - Jonathan Waschefort 70 71 69
211 - Gregg Blainey (ENG) 70 70 71
213 - Coert Groenewald 77 67 69, Tristen Strydom 71 69 73
214 - Paul De Beer 72 72 70
215 - Damian Naicker 75 71 69, Ruhan Van Dijk AMA 75 69 71, Dean O'Riley 77 66 72, Andrew Carlsson AMA 69 71 75
218 - Jayden Schaper AMA 76 73 69
220 - Terence Boardman 73 72 75, Kyle Barker 72 71 77
222 - Wesley Baptiste AMA 77 71 74, Bryce Myburgh 74 74 74, Bradley Diggeden AMA 76 74 72
223 - NJ Arnoldi 76 69 78
224 - Jordan Burnand AMA 74 74 76, Nico Du Buisson AMA 72 73 79
225 - Stephan De Beer 77 72 76, Dylan Docherty 72 72 81
226 - Ivanna Samu AMA 74 73 79, JP Rousseau AMA 75 72 79
227 - Jacques De Villiers 74 75 78, Werner Van Wyk 77 74 76
228 - Martin Rohwer 71 74 83, Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) 73 79 76, JP Schmidt AMA 76 79 73, Wayne Stroebel 81 77 70
229 - David McIntyre AMA 76 73 80, Stephan Erasmus AMA 73 74 82, Teagan Moore 72 81 76
230 - Angelo Marques AMA 73 76 81, Duane Keun 78 72 80
231 - Richard O'Donavan (IRE) 75 75 81, Gary Daoust (BEL) 77 77 77
232 - Shaun van Tonder 79 77 76
233 - Etienne J V Rensburg AMA 76 77 80, Michael Kok AMA 76 78 79, Garth Wolter 77 79 77, Pieter Moolman 85 72 76
234 - Divan Marais 77 75 82
238 - Leon Visser AMA 78 80 80
240 - Cameron Gunning 76 76 88, Jason Ackerman AMA 81 77 82
WDN - Renier Venter AMA 78 78 WDN
N/R - Jandre Fullard 81 77 N/R
ARTICLE: LALI STANDER
