Tommy Fleetwood held on to his crown at the Nedbank Golf Challenge after winning a thrilling battle with Ryan Fox down the stretch at the Gary Player Country Club in South Africa.

The Englishman sealed his sixth DP World Tour victory three years after he last lifted the trophy in Sun City – with the event returning for the first time since 2019 due to the pandemic.

Fleetwood shot a five-under-par 67 to finish on 11 under, one ahead of New Zealand’s Fox, who would have leapfrogged Rory Mcllroy at the top of the DP World Tour rankings with a victory.

Fleetwood and Fox went into the final round three shots behind Rasmus Højgaard and Thomas Detry and the overnight leaders had only managed five holes when play was suspended due to lightning in the area. Shortly after the restart, Højgaard went bogey-bogey-double bogey from the seventh, and Fleetwood and Shubhankar Sharma took advantage, moving to ten under with birdies at the par-five ninth. Sharma posted another at the tenth while Fleetwood could only par as Fox joined the party.

Fox had started with six straight pars then birdied four in a row. He left himself around eight feet at the seventh and eighth, was unlucky with a long eagle putt at the ninth before tapping in, and then holed an 11-footer at the tenth.

Fleetwood slipped back after a bogey at the 12th but a moment of magic at the 14th turned things back in his favour. He was in the bunker left of the par-five in two and holed it for eagle it to jump to 11 under, and moments later, his playing partners Sharma and Fox rolled in their birdie putts and the three of them walked to the 15th tee sharing the lead.

Sharma’s challenge ended with bogeys at 16 and 17 and when Fleetwood tapped in for par at the last, after almost sinking a huge birdie attempt, Fox paid for a poor tee shot and posted his only bogey of the day at the worst possible moment.

Sharma finished in solo third at nine under par, with Richie Ramsay a shot further back.

Fleetwood said: “I already had so many amazing memories of this place, and this has just added to that. It’s amazing we got four rounds in in the end and it was such a lovely feeling coming down the back nine with a chance and battling it out. You draw on the good memories that you have round somewhere you’ve won. I felt good all day and I played great when we came back out after the weather delay.”

Tommy Fleetwood WITB

• TaylorMade Stealth Plus 9° driver
• TaylorMade Stealth Plus 15° 3-wood
• TaylorMade Stealth Plus 19° 5-wood
• TaylorMade Stealth UDI 3-iron
• TaylorMade P.7TW (4-PW)
• TaylorMade Hi-Toe 2 wedge (52°), Titleist Vokey Prototype (60°)
• Odyssey White Hot OG #1 putter
• TaylorMade  TP5x Pix ball

Source link

Switzerland’s Jeremy Freiburghaus moved into the top spot on the Challenge Tour money list after overcoming Max Schmitt in a play-off at the English Trophy at Frilford Heath Golf Club.

A par at the first extra hole was enough for the 26-year-old to claim his first Challenge Tour title as Schmitt could only manage a double-bogey six after seeing his first tee shot bounce in the car park and onto the roof of the clubhouse.

The duo took part in an epic duel on the final day at the Oxfordshire venue, as Freiburghaus overturned a two-stroke deficit with a sublime six under par 66 to tie on 22 under par after 72 holes, before triumphing in the play-off to move to the top of the rankings with just one event left to play.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment all year and to have it happen on the very last tournament is pretty special,” he said. “It’s very big. Getting a win was the main goal this year, came up short twice, but I think that really helped me to stay patient and humble for the win and here we are. My goal was to finish up there and I didn’t think about finishing first but I’m really happy.”

Freiburghaus dropped only one shot in his final round – at the par three ninth – and credited an improvement in his putting for reaching the summit, before sticking to his strategy in the play-off.

“I putted really well today,” he said. “I’ve been struggling a bit the past few days and I didn’t make many mistakes off the tee, that really helps makes the game much more relaxed. Coming in clutch on the back nine was awesome. “I could’ve been a little bit more aggressive. but I hit the three wood before and I thought if I catch it really well, I might be able to get on. I wanted to take the out of bounds out of play so I think, strategy-wise, it worked out well in the end. I wasn’t really nervous because in a play-off, you’ve just got to win. Worst case you’re going to finish second, so you’ve got to go all-in.”

Schmitt’s solo second place was enough for him to climb 21 places on the money list into 18th ahead of the season-finale at Club de Alcanada next month. England’s Ben Schmidt posted the low round of his Challenge Tour career – a seven under 65 – to claim his best finish to date in third on 20 under par.

The field is now set for the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada from November 3-6, with France’s Adrien Saddier the only man to jump inside the top 45 at the final opportunity, as he birdied the last to claim a share of 11th place and climb five places to 43rd. He displaced Englishman Steven Tiley.

Source link