Bradbury cruises to fairy-tale win at Joburg Open
Calm 23-year-old notches up maiden victory after just four months as a professional
Just more than a week ago Dan Bradbury was at home, his fledgling golf career up in the air, but he changed that on Sunday when he won the Joburg Open by three strokes to secure a DP World Tour card.
The 23-year-old Englishman, the leader from the first round, barring some fleeting moments during the third day, never relinquished his advantage while displaying skill, guts and nerve over the final 18 holes to land a dream maiden victory after four months in the paid ranks.
Bradbury fired a four-underpar 67 for an overall 21 under par, with Sami Välimäki of Finland taking second spot, one shot ahead of South Africans Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Daniel van Tonder.
The new champ, accompanied to Johannesburg by mom Sandra, got into the tournament on a sponsor’s invite and he had planned to fly back home on Sunday night.
But now he is staying on to play the SA Open at Blair Atholl from Thursday, despite not packing enough clothes.
“I’ve got the kids over here asking for my hat,” Bradbury said.
He played US college golf for four years, finishing up only in July.
“I’ve only got one of each colour, so they’re struggling for that one.
“But we’ll be fine, we’ll get some laundry done tonight.”
Bradbury carded five birdies in all — starting with a chip-in on the first hole to immediately push his lead to two shots and nobody got closer than that at any stage during the round.
Yet he delivered his best play with some incredible recoveries from tough positions that might have wrecked a lesser man.
On the par-four sixth he was staring at a bogey, maybe even a double drop, but his short pitch from the fairway found the hole for par.
“That ... was nice. Even if it hadn’t gone in, just hitting such a great shot would have probably calmed me down a little bit.
“That was a big momentumchanger,” Bradbury, who still lives with his parents, said.
“If I hadn’t made that I would have been only one ahead or tied.
“To come out of that hole still leading was a bonus and we took advantage of it.”
He carded his third birdie on the par-three ninth with an overcooked putt that rattled into the hole.
“It was going in the water,” he admitted.
Bradbury made two great saves on 14 and 15, two holes which Välimäki birdied.
“They were big because Sami making birdies there, if I had made a bogey there it would have been a lot closer than I would have liked coming down the stretch.”
But for Bradbury, the crucial hole was the par-three 16th, where he had carded two bogeys and a par in the three previous rounds.
He made birdie to push his lead back up to three shots.
The safety-first bogey he scored on the 18th was academic.
The way he handled the pressure surprised some onlookers, but Bradbury had given an indication at the start of the tournament that he wasn’t going to be overawed by the occasion.
When he was asked after the first round if being in the lead was the highlight of his career, he replied quickly and clearly that it wasn’t.
It was just up there, he conceded, but it was not Number 1.In the US, he recorded nine victories, an NCAA Division II record. The man has pedigree.
But there were some preround jitters.
“I wasn’t as bad as I thought I was going to be, I think before the round I was a little bit worse,” he said.
“Once we got going and started off nice, chipped in on the first, that settled the nerves quite a lot.”
Now Bradbury has a tour card and a €167,000 (R2.97m) bonus.
“[I want to] play everything, I love playing. I hate sitting at home and not doing anything.”