Rolling Stone gets satisfaction at Leopard Creek

BRANDON STONE played red hot golf on a scorching hot day at Leopard Creek to dethrone Charl Schwartzel, obliterate the rest of the field, and win the Alfred Dunhill Championship by a runaway seven-stroke margin.

The 23-year-old closed with a 67 yesterday for a 22-under-par aggregate of 266 to earn R2.8 million and boost his earnings in this country alone in 2016 to R6.5m.

A highlight of Stone’s final round was him holing a bunker shot at the par-4 10th hole for a birdie three, accompanied by a fist-pump reminiscent of Gary Player fist-pumping his way to Major victories in his prime.

“I do regard myself as a good bunker player and my caddie, Chris Simmons, said to me: ‘Isn’t it about time you holed one from the sand?’ and I played the perfect shot.

“I felt I played incredibly well all week. I set a scoring goal in mind and I achieved that. I think the good golf kick-started in last week’s Cape Town Open (where he tied for second).

“I’ve also learnt a lot this year about acceptance. I sat down with my sports psychologist, Theo Bezuidenhout, on Monday and he said in golf you just have to accept bad shots and bad breaks. That helped me this week.”

Well, Stone, hardly played a bad shot all week. And, yes, there were a couple of bad breaks; there always is in golf.

The “acceptance” yesterday was mostly about being able to

pictured,

humbly accept the coveted trophy. Who knows at this early stage of his career, but Stone could well become a Major champion himself in the not-too-distant future, like Jordan Spieth who was his teammate at the University of Texas before they both left to pursue pro-golf careers.

They also played against each other several times, and, yes, Stone knows what it feels like to beat the player who would go on to be world No 1 and win both the Masters and the US Open.

“Pebbles”, as he is known to his pals, started the final round on 17-under and three clear of Keith Horne, England’s Chris Hanson and defending champion Schwartzel.

But when Schwartzel rolled in a 12-footer for to save par at the 10th hole and then birdied the 11th from a similar distance it looked like game on at that stage as had momentarily closed the gap to two shots.

But Stone, playing in the final group just behind him, then holed from the sand at 10. “I felt that was a turning point,” said Stone, who then also birdied the 11th by curling in a super-quick downhill from about eight feet with a big left to right break on it.

Uncharacteristically Schwartzel would then take two in a greenside bunker to bogey the FOR a third day in a row, Tiger Woods, treated his fans to a rousing start in his much anticipated return to competition but lost momentum over the closing stretch at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on Saturday. Woods, who had been sidelined for nearly 16 months due to backrelated issues, birdied six of the first 11 holes while briefly closing to within two shots of the lead before bogeying 13 and 14, and ending the third round with a double bogey. The 40-year-old Woods signed for a two-under 70 that put him a distant 11 behind runaway leader Hideki Matsuyama of Japan (65). “For three straight days I’ve been off to great starts,” Woods said. “Two of the three days I did not continue it, but overall I am just so happy to be back out here competing again and fighting against these guys. “It’s been a tough road to come back here, to get to 13th, run up a triple-bogey eight at 15 after visiting both the bush and water, and take a doublebogey five at 16 after his tee-shot again found the dreaded drink.

It was left to Richard Sterne to finish second on 273 with Belgium’s Thomas Detry third on 275 following a 68. this point. I missed it,” said Woods who treated his fans with a highlight at the fifth where he holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie. World No 6 Matsuyama, who has won three of his last four starts worldwide, holed out from the fairway to eagle the par-four seventh on his way to a 19-under total of 197 for a commanding seven-shot lead. Most eyes, however, were on tournament host Woods, who thrilled the galleries at Albany as he birdied the first, second, third and fifth to surge up the leaderboard. Though he three-putted to bogey the par-five sixth, he picked up further shots at the seventh and 11th, where he sank an eight-footer to sit five strokes off the pace. As the winds picked up, Woods’ game unravelled. He bogeyed 13 and 14 as he missed five of the last six fairways off the tee and closed with an ugly six at the par-four last. - Reuters

Schwartzel’s 74 left him in a tie for fourth on 276 alongside fellow South African Thomas Aiken, England’s Graeme Storm, Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, France’s Benjamin Hebert and Spain’s Carlos Pigem whose 60-year-old caddie Pedro Ramseyer died of a suspected heart attack earlier in the week.

This tournament was the last competitive golf Stone will play in 2016 and will star the new year at the BMW SA Open at Glendower from January 12.

“I’ve got some money games lined up with my mates. That’s about it.”