Louis de Jager won for the second time in the 2014 Sunshine Tour season, this time around the Nedbank Affinity Cup held at Lost City.
After shooting rounds of 68-68-68 (-12) he found himself tied at the top of the leaderboard with fellow Rhode Island ambassador Danie Van Tonder and Vaughn Groenewald. Van Tonder recorded rounds of 70-68-66 and was in search of his third Sunshine Tour victory in 2014.
On the first extra hole he and Groenewald made birdie and Van Tonder fell away.
A second extra trip down the 18th was required in order to decide a winner and Louis de Jager was up to the task. He chose to lay up from a waste bunker right of the fairway and proceeded to chip it up to eight feet and secure his victory.
The win marks a second playoff victory in 2014 for Louis de Jager, who also won the Vodacom Origins title at Wild Coast Sun in September.
“It still hasn’t sunk in completely, but to win twice this year has made it a special season for me. Two playoff wins is an achievement, but I’m also really happy with the way I played throughout this week,” he said.
It was a magical finish from Louis de Jager, who effectively made four consecutive birdies to win the R750,000 tournament. He walked away with R118,875 moving to 40th on the 2014 Sunshine Tour Earnings List. He also moved up five places to 11th in the 2015 Chase to the Investec Cup. Special mention to sponsors Nedbank who also contributed an equal amount to the winner’s cheque to help grow the game through the South African Golf Development Board.
Nedbank Affinity Cup Final Result (Sunshine Tour)
Rhode Island players
1st Louis de Jager
2nd Danie Van Tonder
10th Chris Swanepoel
13th Derik Ferreira
24th PH McIntyre
38th Mark Williams
41st Grant Veenstra
43rd Neil Cheetham