Local golfer goes wire-to-wire in IGT Wingate Park tournament
Marco de Beer, young professional golfer of Zwartkop Country Club, had to fight hard to walk away with the top honours this week at the IGT Challenge Tournament at Wingate Park in the east of Pretoria.
Marco de Beer had to fight his way back to the front for a third successive round, but this time a well-executed rally over the last nine holes at Wingate Park Country Club netted the Zwartkop golfer his maiden IGT Challenge Tour victory earlier this week.
The 22-year-old De Beer led the field with rounds of 68 and 69 and closed out a one stroke victory on eight-under 208 in wire-to-wire style with a hard-fought for final round 71.
“This was a real test of patience. I struggled over the first nine holes every day and I had to rally hard on the back nine to make up the lost ground and today was no different. On top of that there was the stress of playing for my first win, but I have to say it was a good stress. This was a huge learning curve, having to deal with the early setbacks and then fight back for the win,” said the Wanna Be A Champion Academy golfer.
De Beer shared the first-round lead with fellow Pretoria professional Ruan Korb, but he got the outright lead after 36 holes and began the final round on seven-under with a one stroke lead over the Silver Lakes golfer.
Another Pretoria – Tokkie van den Berg from Centurion and Woodhill amateur Armand van Dyk – were tied for third at four-under.
“I let Ruan in the door right away when I drove it in the trees left. I couldn’t up and down from short of the green to save par at the first, but I made birdie at the second to take back the lead. Then Ruan birdied the third and I dropped another shot at four. When Ruan birdied the sixth, I was on the back foot again.
“I made a great up-and-down from the bunker at 15 for birdie and holed a huge right-to-left swinging putt from 30 feet at 16 to get back to eight-under. I figured I’d have to make a birdie at 18 at the very least to get into a play-off, but after we played our tee shots, I heard that Tokkie finished with a double bogey. That took some huge pressure off. No need to get fancy and throw it away, so I just made sure I got on the green in three and made the two putts to win,” De Beer concluded.
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