Karmis, ‘Ash’ tops in Swazi
MBABANE: Peter Karmis shot an inspired three-underpar 69 final round yesterday to win the Investec Royal Swazi Open with 49 points at the Royal Swazi Spa Country Club. Rounds of 67-70-62 and 69 earned him enough points to deliver him a second title in less than 10 months following his Sun Sibaya Challenge victory.
Yesterday’s win could not have come at a better place than Royal Swazi. Karmis has won twice on this course before in a different event and clearly the place is a happy hunting ground for him.
“I’m extremely excited and relieved at the same time,” he said after sinking the final putt. “I was very stressful but we obviously play for that stress. We don’t play golf to have it easy; it’s supposed to be difficult. But I am very pleased to come out of it with a victory.”
And it was not easy because for a moment American Zach Byrd seemed to have clinched it when he overtook Herman Loubser on the scoreboard while Lyle Rowe’s shot on 17 almost landed in the cup for an albatross two. Had that happened, Karmis’ chance of winning here would have vanished into thin air.
“That was an awesome shot,” he said of Rowe’s effort at the par-5 17th.
“Honestly, it was magnificent. When I saw it land I thought it was in but the crowd gave it away that it wasn’t.”
Karmis paid tribute to his caddie, saying this was a team effort between himself and his bag-man.
“He gives me the lines the whole time,” Karmis said, “I literally don’t hit a putt without him giving me the line. He’s been on my bag for a while; at Sibaya we won together.”
On 48 points was the duo of Byrd and Rowe, joint runners-up, while Loubser and Ruan de Smidt shared fourth spot, three points behind Karmis.
On the women’s front, Ashleigh Buhai showed some resilience en route to winning their event. Having landed on Tuesday from the US, ‘Ash’ had to battle jetlag, fatigue and a strong field to claim success.
However, a comfortable 15 points meant she was clear of second-placed Nobuhle Dlamini while she finished 10 points ahead of third-placed Nicole Garcia. “I got the job done so I’m really pleased with the results,” Buhai said, “I swung it good the last three days but as the week went on I felt a little bit tired but I dug deep to finish birdie-birdie.” She will now be heading to the States where she will compete on the LPGA Tour. – ANA