Conradie’s Ebotse ‘rite of passage’
Pretoria amateur golfer Ruan Conradie called his wire-to-wire victory in the Race to Q-School's fifth event, at Ebotse Links, from Monday, October 31, to Wednesday, November 2, “a real rite of passage”.
“I’ve won a lot of golf tournaments, but I’ve never led a tournament from start to finish,” said the two-times 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.
Jonathan Waschefort carded a 69 to take second on six-under par.
The Pretoria professional shared the low round of the day honours with former IGT Tour champion Coert Groenewald, Damian Naicker and 15-year-old Benoni amateur Jayden Schaper, who mixed five birdies with a double bogey to finish 11th, at two-over 218.
