Eagle seals double success for Strydom at Wingate

IT was tough going at Wingate Park Country Club and a three-way play-off was on the cards until Kempton Park golfer Ockie Strydom pulled off a gritty eagle on the 18th to pocket the Wingate Challenge title, on Wednesday.

The Sunshine Tour campaigner drained a tricky putt from the back fringe at the final hole for a three to close with an even-par 72 and defeated Juan Swart and Morne Buys by two strokes.

His ninth career IGT Tour victory on four under 212 followed a play-off win in the Killarney Challenge two weeks ago. Strydom confessed he had to dig a whole lot deeper in the tough scoring conditions to secure the silverware.

“This week was tough and today was the toughest,” he said.

“I had to scramble to stay in the fight. I’m striking the ball very well, but I battled with the putter. I couldn’t get it going over the first 45 holes, but I hung tough and I’m incredibly pleased that I kept fighting until the last hole.”

Strydom began the final round two off the pace from overnight leaders Swart, Rhys West and amateur Kyle Barker.

Swart fell from contention first, with a double bogey at the par three eighth, and Barker followed suit with a double on the 12th. West also slipped backwards after four successive bogeys from the 11th.

This opened the door for Jonathan Waschefort and Damian Naicker to hit the front.

Naicker took the lead at the turn, but his bid derailed with a triple on the par four 12th and a bogey at 14.

Waschefort took over and held the lead until the par four 16th, where a double bogey, followed by back-to-back drops, ended his reign.

“I had soft drops at one, four, six and 13, but it seemed that everyone was struggling,” Strydom said.

“I figured if I stayed patient and picked up one or two birdies down the back nine, I might have a chance, and the birdies arrived at 14 and 15.”

Strydom almost holed out on the 14th, and tapped in for birdie. He hit a superb four-iron into the par five 15th and two-putted for birdie.

Within two holes he was among the leaders. The well-timed birdie pair moved Strydom to a tie for the lead with Swart and Buys, at two under.

“Juan also birdied 14 and 15 and Morne playing ahead of us, birdied 15 and 16,” Strydom said. “He finished with pars and set the clubhouse target at two under. I made solid pars at 16 and 17, but Juan bogeyed 17 behind me.

“I left an eagle putt in the throat at 15 and, heading down the 18th, I knew I had to go for broke.

”I hit the six-iron with everything I had and I knew right off it came out well. The putt was just off the green and it was tricky. The line was a metre left to right and over a mound, but the putter finally came to the party and I hit it absolutely perfectly.”

Safely tucked in the clubhouse, at four under, Strydom watched Swart birdie the 18th to tie with Buys for second, before he started celebrating.

“This is a great result for me,” said the GFG Academy player.

“The Sunshine Tour has a seven-week break, so it’s great to have the IGT Tour to stay competitive. The standard is high and the competition is fierce, so it’s great to have this platform to keep in shape until the end of July.

”Hopefully I can collect a few more trophies in the next couple of weeks, to build some confidence for the Wild Coast.”