Tommy’s happy hunting ground

Tommy Fleetwood made a successful defence of his Nedbank Golf Challenge title in Sun City to end a threeyear winless drought.

Fleetwood carded a closing 67 on a weatheraffected final day to finish 11 under par and a shot ahead of New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who bogeyed the 72nd hole after mis-hitting his tee shot and failing to reach the fairway.

India’s Shubhankar Sharma had shared the lead with playing partners Fleetwood and Fox after 15 holes but bogeyed the 16th and 17 th and had to settle for third place on nine under.

Fleetwood defeated Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult at the first extra hole of a play-off at the Gary Player Country Club in November 2019 to claim his fifth DP World Tour title.

The tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ryder Cup star had surprisingly failed to follow up his success at Sun City with any further victories until this week.

Scot Richie Ramsay finished fourth on eight under after a closing round 69. Ewen Ferguson and Scott Jamieson were four shots further back. Ramsay’s fellow Aberdonian David Law was three under thanks to a 72 and Robert Macintyre carded a 70 to finish on level par.

Dundee-based Victor Perez was three over after a 73 with Connor Syme four over following a 74.

Scot Stephen Gallacher moved up the leaderboard on the third day of DP World Tour Q-school in Spain.

He shot 73 in both of his opening rounds but followed up with a third round of 64 to sit tied 52nd on four under overall.

The top 25 earn playing rights for the 2023 season following the marathon six-round event. Liam Johnston is the leading Scot. He is sitting tied 24th on seven under.