Albert Venter kicks off 2019 with important victory
One of Pretoria's emerging young golf stars began the new year on a high note when he won an important tournament in Centurion this week.
Pretoria’s Albert Venter put on an ice-cool display on windy day at Centurion Country Club to claim his a four-stroke victory in the IGT Challenge Tour’s first Race to Q-School on Wednesday.
The Silver Lakes professional was composure personified as he carded seven birdies en route to a final round 66 to finish at the top of the pack with a 15-under-par 201 total – despite the early pressure applied by a plethora of contenders.
The chasing pack included players such as Wynand Dingle, Michiel Bothma, Andrew Carlsson, MJ Viljoen, Ruan de Smidt and first round leader, amateur Gareth Sargent.
The day, however, belonged to Venter.
Having entered the day one off the pace, he overhauled Dingle and joint overnight leader Luke Brown for the lead within the first six holes.
“We had an extremely windy start and conditions were made even tougher with some really tricky pin positions. You had to hit the fairways of you wanted to play attacking golf. I hit a lot of fairways, but even when I missed, I had put myself in a good position so I could still walk away with pars,” Venter explained his performance.
Venter won the Alps Tour Qualifying School and earned his card for 2017. He held on to his playing privileges with a successful campaign in Europe last year, but it came at a cost.
“Spending so much time abroad meant I didn’t play the full Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour, but shortly after I got back home, I won at Reading Country Club and that breakthrough helped me to finish in the top 30 finish in the Road to Sunshine Tour, which qualified me for the Final Stage of the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School in March,” Venter said.
He is heading back to the Alps Tour next month but said he’ll come back in early March for the Final Stage.
“The first event on the Alps Tour is in Egypt, which will be great experience for me. I’m really pleased to get my second win under the belt and so early in the season. It’s great to start the season on a positive note and I’m taking it as a good omen. The Race to Q-School heads to Silver Lakes next week; who knows, maybe I can make it two-in-a-row at my home course,” the young upcoming star concluded.
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