Kristoffer Reitan held his nerve after almost blowing a five-shot advantage in the final round to earn a wire-to-wire victory at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player.
The 27-year-old Norwegian, who gained his PGA TOUR card last month, came into Sunday’s final round at Gary Player CC with a commanding five-shot lead over South Africa’s Jayden Schaper in second. A mixed front nine featuring four birdies and three bogeys saw Reitan’s lead trimmed to four but the chasing pack including Schaper and England’s Dan Bradbury were able to make up further ground on the back nine after Reitan parred the next five holes as the lead was further cut down to two. Pressure only seemed to be increasing on the Norwegian as a bogey on the 15th saw his lead reduced to only a single shot with Schaper and Bradbury on his tail. But the chasing pair failed to add to their birdie tally as Reitan managed to regain composure with a three-par finish to card a level-par 71, end on 17 under, and hold on to a second DP World Tour triumph.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling right now,” Reitan said following his narrow victory. “I had a lot of nerves today. But to get it over the line in the end is a better feeling than I can describe.
“I needed things to go my way a bit as well. Those two guys, Dan and Jayden, they played so well today, they kept pushing me. I was able to keep them at arm’s length in the end. I’m definitely proud of myself and I’m happy to be able to say that.”
Schaper and Bradbury tied for second on 16 under with South African pair Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Shaun Norris completing the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
What is the next event?
The next event on the DP World Tour schedule is the Alfred Dunhill Championship taking place between 11-14 December at Royal Johannesburg Club in South Africa.