THE winner of the Joburg Open, George Coetzee, not only bagged the coveted prize, but also won his first European Tour title.
Coetzee won the Joburg Open title on Sunday February 9 at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington golf course by three strokes on 19 under par.
He paved his way through the final field on Saturday and Sunday on the east course to come in ahead of Jin Jeong from Korea and England’s Tyrrell Hatton, who shared second place on 16 under. South Africa’s Justin Walters was next in line at the top.
This is Coetzee’s first big win on tour after he recorded second and third places in some of the top events over the past few years. He had a bogey-free final round of 66. Coetzee’s victory will see him in a place in the Open Championship in July at Royal Liverpool and earned him a spot in the upcoming WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona later this month.
“I’m very happy to have finished the job. What’s more important for me than sitting here with the trophy is that I gave it my best shot out there and I got the job done,” said Coetzee from Pretoria, who has come close several times before this only to be denied on the final day. “The first six holes on the front nine are probably the toughest on this course, but they’re also the holes where you have to score. There are two par-fives in there and you need to be at least two under. But they’re the kind of holes where you can easily be two over.”
“And the other major turning point came on the par-four 15th, where he pulled his drive and almost found the water. You need a bit of luck. If it had gone in the water like it should’ve I probably wouldn’t have won. But it hit the tree and it bounced onto the fairway, and I hit it on the green and made the putt for birdie.”
Coetzee now travels to East London for this week’s Africa Open.
Keith Horne, who resides in Alberton, and Grant Muller from the South unfortunately did not make the cut, but they both played well, with Horne just outside the cut on Friday February 7.
