100th South African Open – A look at the back crowd
The winners have their own place in the tournament, but the losers do not fail to catch some highlights. To pinpoint the flukes of the final round and worst scores, here is a quick recap of the 100th South African Open.
The rain-struck fourth round kicked off on 19 December 2010. The third green was declared unplayable by the officials, as the entire green turned into a puddle, owing to the consecutive rain that hit Durban Country Club.
With a score of six-over-par was South Africa’s very own Willie van der Merwe. The veteran grabbed the lowest spot of the leader board with the help of 294 strokes. Merwe chose to tee from the back, as it was his scoring ground. In earlier rounds, Merwe
hammered 11 birdies in 36 holes alongside a magnificent eagle on the 18th of the second round. Following the tradition, the South African birdied the 15th and reeled two back-to-back birdies on the closing holes. This was no surprise
for the spectators, as they had witnessed the player making chemistry with the twin par fours in previous rounds.
The real action started on the front nine, when Merwe double bogeyed the third green. The veteran drove the first stroke towards left, which might have led him to the fairway if the bunker hadn’t blocked his way. The ball fell on the extreme left of the
landing area and rolled into the small bunker. Merwe sand wedged the ball out and reached the fairway with the third shot. The player still had some luck left on his side before he decided to cut the shot right to reach the green in one. The ball rolled to
the farthest corner of green and failed to abide the requirements of putting, thus making the first purple patch of the day.
The South African walked towards the next hole with his caddie and successfully pared it with a careful strategy. However, on the par-4 fifth, Merwe ironed the second shot, but missed the fairway, which resulted in him taking the fourth shot from a rough.
After additional four strokes, Merwe finally holed the flag and added another purple patch on his scorecard. He dropped one more shot at the seventh and walked off to the clubhouse with a lone birdie from nine-hole session.
With equally pathetic performance Tyrone Ferreira, stood at the 50th place, but with 293 strokes. The South African made a 78 after compiling 76 on Saturday. He bogeyed five holes and birdied four on Sunday. However, it didn’t end here. The player
made a mock out of himself at the 6th and the 16th hole. Ferreira hammered his third stroke in a sand bunker, which occupied two stokes to reach the surface. He managed to hole in one stroke, but the early showdown earned him mourns and
scorn from the crowd.
Scott Dunlap was the second American after Trevor Dodds to finish in top sixty. Dunlap double bogeyed-six the sixth hole and dropped a putt on the next. He managed to seek the only birdie of the day on the eighth hole and wrapped the 18-hole session with
two more bogeys, but at par. Despite of delivering terrible performance in four days, suprisingly Dunlap won R 31,675, which was money won by doing nothing.
Justin Harding finished in 31st spot after reeling three birdies and one bogey on the final day. He managed a fine game, unlike his fellow contender Damien McGrane. The Irish tripped while taking the second shot and swung the wedge towards right
than left. The misfortune of fate guided the ball into a ridge, which later took three strokes to come out.
The day ended with Ernie Els in the lead and Willie van der Merwe in the last. This deduced a fact that victory does not require the support of crowd or home course, but it needs the skills and accurate decision-making of the player.
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