Oliver Bekker wins weather-shortened Durban Open

· The South African

Oliver Bekker produced a magnificent final-round 67 to surge through the field and win the Jonsson Workwear Durban Open by two strokes at Durban Country Club on Sunday.

In a tournament shortened to 54 holes because of the weather, Bekker used all of his experience to close with a round of seven birdies and two bogeys for a winning total of 16-under par.

His nearest challenger was Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand who finished second on 14-under par with a final round of 71.

Remarkable performance

It was a remarkable performance from Oliver Bekker, who recently moved to Australia as part of a plan to start slowing down his career. But the problem is, he cannot stop winning. This victory comes four months after he won on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

“It’s a little bit surreal. Since we moved to Australia I’ve been moving more furniture than playing golf. I missed the cut last week so came into this event with not too many expectations, and sometimes that’s when you play  your best golf,” said Oliver Bekker.

This is Bekker’s second victory on the HotelPlanner Tour amidst what is a rich vein of form for him.

“I’ve been working with somebody in Stellenbosch. It’s just small things, and not to fight what I want to do naturally. It’s paying dividends. I’ve been playing well lately without changing too much. I’ve got a wealth of experience behind me now, which also helps.”

Right in contention

It was a thrilling final round as a few players made a run at the lead, including Spain’s Pablo Ereno who was right in contention before an eight on the par-four 17th hole.

“I started slowly, but then started hitting a few quality shots. I thought if I could get to 17-under I’d have shot. As I walked off the 12th green I saw that somebody was on 16-under, so the guys were going low early. I managed to make a few good putts. When I got to 18 I thought I needed to make birdie just to have a chance. I did that, and then I saw the scoreboard and 13-under was in second place. That’s when I knew I might have done it.”

It was an emotional victory as well, with Oliver Bekker’s wife staying up in Australia to watch him win and who he spoke to first on the phone. And with Bekker recently having lost a very close friend.

“It was nice to speak to my wife. And I lost a very close friend recently. It makes you realise just how short life is, and that moments like this are special.”

SCORES

200 – Oliver Bekker 65 68 67
202 – Christofer Blomstrand 70 61 71
203 – John Gough 71 69 63, Julian Perico 65 71 67, Pedro Figueiredo 65 71 67, Calum Fyfe 70 65 68, Luke Brown 65 69 69, Pablo Ereno 62 71 70
204 – Hennie Otto 70 69 65, Lars van Meijel 72 67 65, David Horsey 69 70 65, Wouter De Vries 68 70 66, Alex Goff 70 67 67, Louis Albertse 68 66 70, Santiago Tarrio 67 64 73
205 – Martin Vorster 68 69 68, Lorenzo Scalise 65 72 68, Keenan Davidse 70 63 72, Alfie Plant 67 65 73
206 – Matthew Southgate 70 71 65, Pieter Moolman 66 70 70
207 – Brandon Stone 70 70 67, Lyle Rowe 71 69 67, Kieron van Wyk 63 74 70, Jean Hugo 67 67 73
208 – Stuart Krog 67 72 69, Nikhil Rama 65 74 69, Will Enefer 69 67 72
209 – Benjamin Hebert 69 72 68, Jannik de Bruyn 70 71 68, Philipp Katich 71 69 69, Jamie Rutherford 72 68 69, Tom Lewis 71 68 70, Julien Brun 68 70 71, James Mack 67 70 72, Malcolm Mitchell 67 68 74
210 – Collin Adams 70 71 69, Victor Pastor 67 74 69, Robson Chinhoi 70 71 69, Jacques Blaauw 67 73 70, Luke Jerling 72 67 71, James Meyer De Beco 71 67 72
211 – Joel Moscatel 69 72 70, Matthias Schwab 70 71 70, Matthis Besard 70 71 70, Callum Farr 72 69 70, Kyle Barker 68 72 71, Dylan Mostert 68 72 71
212 – Deon Germishuys 71 70 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 70 71, Ruan Korb 70 70 72, Jaco Ahlers 72 68 72, Liam Nolan 72 67 73
213 – Gary Hurley 70 71 72, Jacques P de Villiers 73 67 73, Austin Bautista 64 72 77
214 – Sebastian Friedrichsen 72 69 73, Rhys West 69 71 74, Tobias Eden 69 71 74, Albert Boneta 68 69 77, Wilco Nienaber 67 68 79
215 – Baard Skogen 70 71 74
216 – Robin Petersson 69 71 76, Rhys Enoch 67 67 82
217 – Thanda Mavundla 70 69 78
218 – Sam Locke 68 72 78, Nick Bachem 70 69 79
219 – Luis Carrera 68 71 80

Missed the cut:

142 – Keelan van Wyk 73 69, Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen 68 74, Adam Wallin 72 70, Nick Carlson 71 71, Graham van der Merwe 70 72, Javier Barcos Garbayo 71 71, Lars Van Der Vight 72 70, Charlie Forster 71 71, Haraldur Magnus 74 68, Max Kennedy 68 74, Bryce Easton 72 70, Ronan Kleu 72 70, Altin van der Merwe 71 71, Pierre Viallaneix 70 72
143 – Per Langfors 69 74, Stefan Wears-Taylor 68 75, Anton Albers 69 74, Julien Sale 73 70, Marc Warren 72 71
144 – Jaco Van Zyl 72 72, Victor Sidal Svendsen 73 71, Stephen Ferreira 72 72, Heinrich Bruiners 71 73, Asier Aguirre 75 69, Benjamin Van Wyk 70 74, Stals Swart 75 69, Wynand Dingle 69 75, Kyle McClatchie 72 72, Maxence Giboudot 71 73
145 – Daan Huizing 72 73, Jason Roets 68 77, Rupert Kaminski 72 73, Lucas Vacarisas 73 72, Hennie O’Kennedy 71 74, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 73
146 – Franklin Manchest 70 76, Warwick Purchase 74 72, CJ du Plessis 70 76, JJ Senekal 77 69
147 – Christofer Rahm 76 71, Samuel Simpson 73 74, Gerhard Pepler 72 75, Kristian Hjort Bressum 73 74, Alexander Knappe 73 74, Tadeas Tetak 70 77, Jaco Prinsloo 70 77, Bjorn Akesson 71 76, Estiaan Conradie 74 73, Liam Grehan 72 75
148 – Makhetha Mazibuko 75 73, Conor Purcell 71 77, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 78 70, Benjamin Rusch 75 73, Keagan Thomas 72 76, Kayle Wykes 74 74, Filip Mruzek 79 69, Jacob Worm Agerschou 73 75, Hurly Long 75 73, Pierre Pineau 76 72, Zachary Chegwidden 74 74
149 – Ryan Lumsden 74 75, Sam Hutsby 73 76, Liam Johnston 72 77, Neil Schietekat 72 77
151 – Joe Long 77 74, Allen John 74 77, Martin Rohwer 74 77, Herman Loubser 72 79
152 – Keegan Mclachlan 75 77
153 – Palmer Jackson 77 76, Jastice Mashego 76 77, Rory Franssen 74 79, Anthony Michael 76 77, Tyran Snyders 75 78
154 – Allister de Kock 78 76, Ayden Knight 76 78
155 – Anders Ejlersen 75 80
156 – Matthew Spacey 71 85, Ryan van der Klis 80 76
157 – Otto Van Buynder 73 84
162 – Tristin Galant 76 86
WDN – Borja Virto
RTD – Jeppe Kristian Andersen, Kyle De Beer, Tyrone Ryan, Steven Brown, Callan Barrow, Christiaan Burke

Read full story at source