Riekus breaks new ground at Benoni
Riekus Nortje broke records when he won the Sunshine Big Easy Tour Benoni event, marking the first time a single player has won two events -- and he won them back-to-back.
“I’m having a bit of a ball at the moment. It’s a great feeling -- I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this in my life before. This definitely means a lot, and I don’t think this will be the last time this will happen,” he said.
The Fancourt Foundation graduate clocked up a six-under-par tally over his 36 holes at Benoni Country Club, claiming a one-stroke victory in the R100 000 tournament presented by Stonehage.
Currently in his rookie year, the 21-year-old explained that his confidence has been much better since his maiden career victory at ERPM Golf Club three weeks ago. He headed to Big Easy Benoni on the back of a share of 22nd at the Indo Zambia Bank Zambia Open, which was easily his best finish on the main tour this year.
“I’m sure I’ll realise what I’ve done once I get home tonight,” he said. “This really is something, but I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing and play with the same confidence. It doesn’t change me as a person, but it’s definitely doing a lot for the way I play.”
And playing out of Fancourt certainly helped him in incredibly windy conditions on Friday. “I dealt with the wind pretty well. All-in-all I hit a lot of greens and playing the wind was definitely an advantage for me. I’ve done well in quite a few tournaments where the wind has blown,” he said.
Having represented South Africa nine times as an amateur, and now with two victories under his belt, the sky really seems to be the limit for Nortje.
“My game is on the up. There’s always a couple of things you can work on, but my game feels good at the moment. This is a great platform to build on your golf, and it’s working for me at the moment,” he said.
Divan Gerber reached the 18th tee-box with a two-stroke lead, but from there things went downhill. A wayward tee shot found water on the left, and after dropping he took a fairway wood for the green, but once again failed to clear the water, which meant he would play into the green for five. He eventually made nine at the hole, finishing third at four-under-par.
Teboho Sefatsa claimed second after shooting a second-round 69. He rose to the occasion on Friday, making his way through the stretch in 33, which included birdies at 16 and 18. Having shot 70 on Thursday, Sefatsa cruised to a confident second-place finish.
FINAL-ROUND SCORES (RSA unless otherwise specified)
138 - Riekus Nortje 67 71
139 - Teboho Sefatsa 70 69
140 - Divan Gerber 65 75
141 - Mark Williams 71 70, Irvin Mazibuko 68 73
142 - Mikhail Tewary 68 74, Victor Lange (AMA) 68 74
143 - Graham van der Merwe 74 69, Michael du Toit 72 71, Jake Redman 71 72
144 - Tyrone Ryan 75 69, Zuko Sangqu 72 72, David Ryan 72 72, Ashley Roestoff 72 72, Daniel Hammond 71 73, Jared Harvey 70 74, Francois Coetzee 69 75
145 - Attie Schwartzel 73 72, Heinrich Bruiners 72 73, Greg Petzer 65 80
146 - PG van Zyl 72 74, Louis Moolman 77 69, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 72 74, Drikus van der Walt 70 76, Louis Calitz 69 77
147 - Coenie Bester 74 73, Morne Buys 73 74, Thabang Simon 71 76
148 - Callie Swart 74 74, Pieter Moolman 74 74, Stuart Clark (WAL) 75 73, Thanda Mavundla 75 73, Wynand Dingle 76 72, Johan Bekker 72 76
149 - Lean Boezaart 74 75, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 75 74, Alpheus Kelapile 76 73, Henk Alberts 72 77, Albert Tsai 71 78, Dayne Moore (ZAM) 71 78, Davison Elijah (ZIM) 71 78
150 - Mark Fensham 73 77, Brendan de Lange 73 77, Derik Ferreira 76 74, Juan Langeveld 69 81
151 - Martin du Toit 74 77, Steven van Heerden 73 78, Kenneth Dube 73 78, John Bele 76 75
152 - Wayne Westner 73 79, Ryan Thompson 73 79, Stuart Smith (BOT) 76 76, Hertzog Landman 76 76, John McClean 72 80
153 - Ross Wellington 74 79, Sammy Daniels 74 79, Paul Bradshaw 73 80, James du Preez (AMA) 72 81
154 - Michael Hollick 73 81, Michael Dreyer 77 77, Phiwakahle Mkhoma (AMA) 78 76, Steven Ferreira 79 75
155 - Bryan Prytz 74 81, Andre van Zyl 75 80, Stephen Ferreira (POR) 72 83
156 - Coenie Stoop 76 80, Clifford Howes 77 79, Derick Petersen 78 78, Thomas Lovett 78 78, Elvis Sithebe 79 77, Beyers Smith 79 77
157 - Nathan Waghorn 79 78
158 - Wandile Gininda 77 81, Patrick Spindler 77 81, Vickesh Singh 78 80, Willie Steyn 79 79
161 - Zwelakhe Dube 77 84
163 - Greg Bentley (ZIM) 83 80
164 - Gerrit Foster 79 85
165 - SV Nhlapho 79 86, Roy Da Costa (POR) 82 83
166 - Nabeel Umerji (ZIM) 80 86
171 - Nkosinathi Dauwa (AMA) 86 85
