Coetzee holds off Strydom in a hard-fought battle

Pretoria Country Club probably has two favourite current professional golfers in George Coetzee and Tristen Strydom, and on Friday the two ‘pets’ went head-to-head in the final round of the Titleist Championship, with Coetzee emerging as a four-shot winner in a contest he said was tighter than the final margin suggested.

Coetzee and Strydom both began the day on seven-under-par, but Coetzee added to his two Tshwane Open titles at the Waterkloof course by firing a superb six-under-par 66 in the third round, winning himself R95 100.

The 23-year-old Strydom, in just his second season on the Sunshine Tour, performed admirably to post a 70 and earn R69 000, more than his total previous earnings of R58 877. And the resident and member of the Pretoria Country Club estate would have been properly in contention were it not for consecutive double-bogeys on the par-three fifth and the par-four sixth holes, from which he did exceptionally well to still shoot two-under-par.

“Tristen is a really exciting player. He hits the ball so good and definitely has a bright future. Were it not for just a couple of holes he would have really had me sweating,” Coetzee admitted.

“But it’s always special winning at Pretoria Country Club and being a Titleist player. They have both supported me my whole career.

“I’m really happy to have won in front of everyone who was expecting me to perform. I could hear their cheers from a long way off.”

Coetzee actually made an awful start to the day with bogeys on the first two holes. A five at the first was in fact a big escape for the 34-year-old, who had to fashion a cunning piece of innovation to drop only one shot as his ball was against the boundary wall. Coetzee hit it into the wall and rebounded it back on to the green.

“The last time I was against that wall was when I was 13 years old. I learnt my lesson then but obviously forgot it today,” he said.

“In the end I was very happy to make bogey because it was a tough putt.”

Another bogey on the par-four second may have suggested Coetzee was vulnerable, but it was one of the great cons as he powered his way back from his poor start with six birdies between the fourth and 10th holes. He added two more birdies on the par-three 14th and the par-four 17th to complete his 11th Sunshine Tour victory.

“On the second I basically hit the ball flush over the green so I had really hit just one bad shot, so I was still pretty happy and was confident to still go for the flags,” he said.

On a glorious sunny day that was fantastic for those wanting to work on a spring tan, Darren Fichardt made the biggest move with a top-class seven-under 65 that lifted him into fourth place on six-under.

Jaco Ahlers completed a solid week’s work with a 67 to finish third on seven-under, two behind second-placed Strydom.

The Rise-Up Series now takes a three-week break before resuming with the penultimate event at ERPM Golf Club on September 23.

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