Golfer claims breakthrough win at tournament

Luke Mayo became the latest first-time winner on the Betway Big Easy Tour after clinching the ninth event of the season at Ebotse Links on Thursday.

The Mount Edgecombe player carded a final round of one-under 71 to take his tournament total to seven-under, claiming a four-stroke victory in the process.

“The Big Easy is such a good feeder tour to the Sunshine Tour and to win here is huge,” said Mayo after his win.

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“I didn’t have the best of starts to the season but in my last four tournaments, I’ve had a second, a fifth and winning today pretty much gets me my card which means a lot to me.”

With this being the second-last regular event before the playoffs and the final, Mayo will feel a huge amount of relief, given that the top 12 players on the Order of Merit here will earn their Sunshine Tour playing privileges for the next season.

“This win takes a lot of pressure off the last two events and I am happy that I was able to get the job done today,” said Mayo.

“Coming into this event, I knew that in the last two events, money doubles and triples, so you want to get the job done as soon as you can.”

In a round where birdies were hard to come by and the leaderboard as tight as they come, Mayo had one thing in his mind the entire day.

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“I just focused on my own game and what I could do,” he said, “I didn’t even look at the leaderboard because I wanted to stay focused.

“I didn’t even know what everyone else was doing; I just stuck to my game plan throughout the week and I only had three bogeys the whole week.

“I think that was pretty much the key to my good golf this week. I wasn’t even going for birdies out there today.

“I knew that if I shot around 70 or 71, I was in with a shout and I just stuck to the plan. The goal was not to look at the leaderboard and just keep playing good golf.”

His victory at Ebotse Links takes Mayo to fourth on the Order of Merit with one regular season tournament left ahead before the playoff and the final.

The Betway Big Easy Tour is the Sunshine Tour’s feeder circuit which enjoys the support of Ernie Els among other patrons.