Stone rallies to claim SA Open

Brandon Stone reeled off a stunning back nine comeback to win the SA Open at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday.

Johannesburg – South African Brandon Stone reeled off a stunning back nine comeback to win the SA Open by two shots on 14-under par at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday.

Stone, 22, carded a final round 71 despite six bogies on his first 11 holes to break the South African winners’ drought in the Championship dating back to 2011. Stone, with just five pars in 18 holes, finished two clear of South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout in solo second place.

Stone started the fourth round with a two shot lead over England’s Daniel Brooks courtesy of a third round 65 which was completed early on Sunday morning. And with two birdies in his first four holes he opened up a five shot lead as he moved to 15-under.

But a pulled tee shot on the challenging uphill par four fifth resulted in a bogey, and on the par three sixth Stone misjudged the wind as he found the water and a he fought hard to make bogey. Then on the par four seventh Stone three-putted for his third drop in a row. On the par five eighth, Stone hit a wild drive off to the right but he was lucky to have a clear route to the green and steadied the ship with a birdie.

But Stone went on to miss a short par putt on nine to go out in one over. The back nine threatened to be much of the same as he dropped shots on 10 and 11. But he bounced back with tap-in birdies on 12 and 13 to move back into a one shot lead.

The par five 15th proved another easy birdie for Stone as he blasted a huge drive down the fairway, and he found the green in two and two-putted for the gain.

The momentum was with Stone as he fired in a good approach into the par four 16th, where he rolled in a 10-footer for another birdie to get to 14-under and a two shot lead with two to play. He was able to par his way in for his maiden European Tour victory.

Stone graduated from the 2015 European Challenge Tour, and following the win could move into the top 120 in the world rankings from 249th.

He was also the youngest winner of the event since it became co-sanctioned between the Sunshine and European Tours in 1997. Trevor Immelman was the previous youngest winner when he claimed victory at the age of 23 in 2003.

– African News Agency (ANA)