Darren Fichardt takes home the Africa Open title
Darren Fichardt carded a one-under par 71, in the final round of the Africa Open, to record a two-stroke victory over Gregory Bourdy and Jaco Vanzyl, on Sunday, February 17, 2013.
The tournament was being staged at the East London Golf Club, featuring a number of top-notch European Tour players from different parts of the world.
Right from the beginning of the tournament, Fichardt remained consistent in his game and took home the fourth European Tour title of his career.
Entering the final round, he was sharing the lead with Vanzyl, at a 15-under par three-round score. Both Vanzyl and Fichardt started well in the final round.
Vanzyl birdied each of the first two holes. However, he failed to maintain consistent and conceded three bogeys, afterwards. As a result, he moved down on the leaderboard, to share the second spot.
In the meantime, Fichardt held his nerves and played brilliantly well. He birdied three of the first seven holes that he played, to reach the turn in three under.
He then added another shot to his scorecard, on the 13th hole. Thereafter, he struggled a bit and suffered three bogeys over the last five holes that he played.
Yet, he was lucky to maintain his lead over his competitors, to record a decent victory in the tournament.
Talking to the European Tour’s official website, he admitted that he started losing focus, while entering the last five holes of the tournament.
“I started losing focus,” admitted Fichardt after lifting the trophy. “I was four shots ahead and I started taking it for granted. “I was putting unbelievable and then I missed a short putt at the 14th and thought ‘what’s going on here?’”.
He also said that the Africa Open is one of his favourite tournament, especially because it gets staged at the prestigious East London Golf Course.
“This is one of my favourite tournaments. The golf course is second to none – you’ve got to hit a lot of knock down shots and irons off the tee,” he said. “I always enjoy coming here, and obviously winning the tournament makes the week especially enjoyable”.
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