Patience pays off for Ahlers at Wild Coast Sun Challenge

PORT EDWARD: Patience was the name of the game yesterday as Jaco Ahlers took his fifth Sunshine Tour title, winning the R700 000 Wild Coast Sun Challenge by three strokes.

While all about him were dropping shots, he made four birdies and no bogeys in his final round of four-under-par 66 at the 5 807-yard par-70 Wild Coast Sun Country Club. His total was 17-under-par 193, with Ruan de Smidt and Danie van Tonder in second and third.

“I hit the ball well all day,” said Ahlers. “I didn’t make any amazing putts, but I birdied all the par fives, and that’s what you want – problem-free golf. Winning’s never easy, but it was nice to get on 17 and see that I had a three-shot lead. That made a bit of a difference. And a win’s a win. I’m chuffed.”

For much of the day, it looked as though Van Tonder was going to run away with things. He reached the turn in five-under-par 30 but immediately dropped shots on 10 and 11. He recovered with an eagle on 12 and a birdie on 13 but finished with three bogeys to fall out of contention.

While Van Tonder was undoing all the good work of his earlier charge, Ahlers was hanging in there, and, having made birdie on 12, he then made his fourth of the day on the par-five 16th, and that was the beginning of the end.

“I had a three wood in for two into the wind with water everywhere,” said Ahlers, “and I hit a pretty decent shot and made a two-putt birdie, and that turned things around, because Danie made bogey at about the same time up ahead.”

Ahlers’s round was all the more impressive when it is borne in mind that only one other player kept a clean sheet. Rourke van der Spuy made four birdies to reach 10-under for the tournament and a share of seventh. – SunshineTour.com