Jean-Marc Bouic triumphs at SKZN Closed
The south-westerly wind pushed through for most of the day.
Drive for show, putt for dough. This was abundantly evident in Jean-Marc Bouic’s game when he won the Southern KZN Closed at Southbroom Golf Club last Sunday.
The Southbroom golfer put together rounds of 71 and 70 to see off the threats of veteran defending champion Gavin Sole and emerging talent Cameron Olivant.
Jean-Marc is not the longest hitter, but he is super-steady and sneaky consistent. And man, can he chip and putt.
He made some crucial up-and-downs on the closing nine holes to stay either tied for the lead or in the lead.
In between all this, he also holed some superb birdie putts, none more crucial than the one on the 14th hole, to edge one ahead of Cameron.
The youngster, coming off wins at the San Lameer Open and East Griqualand Open, found that strokeplay around Southbroom can be a different beast and sent two tee shots soaring out of bounds on the front nine.
He fought back to stay in the hunt with a morning 73 and then turned it on, getting to -3 for the day and enjoying a real old duel with Jean-Marc.
Earlier in the day, Gavin had opened a decent lead and was four under par after 16 holes but felt his back spasm on his tee shot on the 17th.
The ball found a new home in the Frederika Preserve, and he walked off with a quick eight.
That rather spoilt his round and day, but he stuck to it and finished in third place on scores of 72 and 72.
But more about the new champion.
Jean-Marc edged ahead on the 17th with a gutsy par after having to chip out from under some trees and then somehow threading a hybrid through and around and up and over more trees to just short of the green where, of course, he almost holed the chip.
It’s now his second victory in the space of three weeks after winning the Northern KZN Open at Dundee recently.
Jan Nqoko finished fourth behind Gavin, with scores of 72 and 74, including a closing nine of 33. The best nett of the day went to him.
Sbu Ntozakhe won the B division on scores of 38 and 39 points off a course handicap of 10 for the day.
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