Pretoria rookie Eric Nel joined the bandwagon of first-time winners on the Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour with a two-shot breakthrough in the 14th event of the season on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old golfer from the Centurion Country Club fired a final round five-under-par 67 to win on 14-under 202.

Nel, a former pupil of Hoërskool Waterkloof, became the 11th rookie to celebrate success on the golf development collaboration between the Sunshine Tour and IGT Challenge Tour this season. The top 10 ranked players on the Road to Sunshine Tour after the season-ending Big Easy Tour Championship in early December will earn cards for the 2018/2019 Sunshine Tour.

Nel started the week in 40th position and about R20 000 outside the top 10, but the maiden win came with a R10.5K pay-day, which boosted him to 16th in the rankings.

“The timing couldn’t have been better. We only had three events left, so it was really do-or-die time for me. I got myself in contention and I had to get it done,” said Nel.

He said he expected to be nervous at the start, but that he was surprisingly calm from the first hole.

“I never got flustered, not even when I dropped at four and 16, because I stuck with my game plan. I played the course and I played shot-for-shot and hole-for-hole. I shut out everything else. I didn’t even know what the other guys were doing. I just stayed inside my own head until I got to the last hole,” Nel explained his mindset.

The 21-year old Nel shared the 36-hole lead on nine-under with two-time champion Matt Bright after posting earlier rounds of 67 and 68. The pair started the last day with a slender one-shot lead, but it took Nel just two holes to take pole position on his own.

“I got off to a birdie-birdie start, but I bogeyed four after I got an unlucky bounce. I hit my tee shot slightly left. The ball bounced even further left and I couldn’t up-and-down to save par, but I rolled in a 25-footer for birdie at seven to get the shot back,” said Nel, who never relinquished the lead.

Several players, including Bright, Luke Brown, Gary Player School of 2018 member Derick Petersen, Ruan Conradie and Dylan Kok took a run at Nel on the front nine, but he held his ground.

Heading down the back nine, Brown trailed by one shot. Then he picked up another birdie at 11 and eagled the par four 16th.

He didn’t take any risks at the last hole, just made sure he got himself in the middle of the green for two and two-putted for the win.

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