Graeme weathers storm, wins SA Open
• Brit fights off McIlroy challenge months after career looked ruined
Having to play for his tour card and indirectly his livelihood in Portugal in 2016 helped steel Graeme Storm for the gargantuan challenge he faced at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday.
Having to play for his tour card and indirectly his livelihood in Portugal in 2016 helped steel Graeme Storm for the gargantuan challenge he faced at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday.
The Briton stared down the challenge of former world No 1 Rory McIlroy to be an unlikely winner of the South African Open in a thunderous climax.
Just more than two months ago Storm’s career had stalled with only a glimmer of hope between him and despair.
His 2016 season was poor and his last-gasp attempt to retain his tour card in Portugal failed, but he found an unlikely way back in when American Patrick Reed failed to play in the number of events required to take up a slot in 2017.
Earlier last week, after he grabbed the lead in the South African Open, Storm almost choked up when he spoke of the importance of grasping and clinging on to second chances.
He played like his life depended on it by fastidiously sticking to his guns to see off the challenge of the redoubtable world No 2 McIlroy.
The 37-year-old stuck to the script no matter what McIlroy threw at him.
“The pressure was great,” said Storm. “The experience of Portugal at the end of last year kind of helped me. That was real pressure — playing for your livelihood; playing to stay on the European Tour; playing to be able to pay the bills back home.
“I managed to squeeze in through the back door. I think that just proves I deserve to be out here,” Storm said. By playing percentage, if unspectacular golf, Storm gave himself an opportunity to remain in contention. Even after McIlroy had wiped out a three-shot overnight deficit Storm stuck to his strategy.
It paid off after McIlroy had gone into the lead when on the 17th the Ulsterman failed to extricate himself from a greenside bunker at his first attempt.
Being patient also paid off when the spectre of sudden death became a reality.
Being unable to match McIlroy for distance off the tee, had its advantages, though.
“I knew I would be in first. That was a good thing in a sense because it meant that I could put a bit of pressure on. I was always going in first and not having to follow,” explained Storm.
McIlroy was not the only one to rue his effort on the par-three 17th. Jordan Smith’s challenge was effectively killed off when he bogeyed with one hole to play. That left him out of a spot in the play-off.
It must have felt like Groundhog Day in the prolonged but dramatic play-off. Both players finished the first two holes in regulation but not before McIlroy hit a near-miracle approach from under a tree.
He again missed the fairway on the third play-off hole and from a more favourable position than on the previous hole his approach fell short of the green. Storm held his nerve as McIlroy tellingly failed to get it up and down. The leading South African was Dean Burmeister on 15under with Trevor Fisher Jnr and Thomas Aiken a shot back.