Peter Karmis has not won on the Sunshine Tour since August 2018, but the 42-year-old showed he still has the bottle for it on Saturday as clinched a thrilling one-stroke victory in the FNB Eswatini Challenge at the Nkonyeni Lodge and Golf Estate.

Karmis fired a two-under-par 70 in Saturday’s final round to finish on 10-under-par overall, edging out Stuart Krog (69) on nine-under for his seventh Sunshine Tour title.

Matthew Spacey, who enjoyed a four-stroke lead going into the last day, stumbled to a 76 on Saturday and ended up sharing third place on eight-under-par with Louis Albertse (67), last week’s winner CJ du Plessis (68) and Ruan Korb (69).

Although Karmis started brilliantly with a birdie on the par-four first hole, and gained two more shots on the seventh and eighth holes to reach the turn on three-under, he endured a rollercoaster back nine that saw him sandwich a birdie on the par-five 13th hole with bogeys on the 11th and 15th holes.

Karmis showed his mettle, however, by finishing with three straight pars, while Krog suffered a costly double-bogey on the par-four 16th hole.

“You need a bit of luck and things went my way, especially at the death,” Karmis said. “I was trying not to get too excited and on the last couple of holes I was very nervous.

“Some guys shy away from nerves, they try and fix it, but that can become very difficult. I prefer to embrace it and enjoy the nerves.

“I know it’s been five years since I won, but we were in lockdown for a long time and I had a struggle with injury. So it feels like I had three years off,” Karmis said.

Whatever the final round held in store for Karmis, he knew the Nkonyeni Golf Estate course was one he enjoyed. Saturday’s victory is his fourth in Eswatini, having won the Lombard Insurance Classic twice (2007 & 2009) and the Investec Royal Swazi Open in 2017.

“I don’t know what it is about Eswatini, but I always just seem to have a very good attitude here. This is a very good course that suits my game. I love the grainy greens, although I did have a little issue with my putter today.
“But from tee-to-green I was good. I was a bit nervous about my Driver, but I hit it a lot today. I’ve played well recently and feel in good form,” Karmis said.

SCORES:
206 – Peter Karmis 66 70 70

207 – Stuart Krog 67 71 69

208 – Louis Albertse 73 68 67, CJ du Plessis 70 70 68, Ruan Korb 70 69 69, Matthew Spacey 62 70 76

209 – Adam Breen 67 75 67, Estiaan Conradie 67 70 72, Leon Visser 64 73 72

210 – Ruan Conradie 72 72 66, Malcolm Mitchell 70 73 67, Ricky Hendler 69 70 71

211 – Dan Erickson 72 71 68, Quintin Wilsnach 71 71 69, Heinrich Bruiners 68 73 70, Jacques P de Villiers 71 70 70, Jean-Paul Strydom 73 67 71, Ryan Van Velzen 71 69 71, Clancy Waugh 72 68 71

212 – Madalitso Muthiya 70 73 69, Drikus Joubert 71 72 69, Pierre Pellegrin 69 73 70, Neil Schietekat 71 70 71, Danie Van Niekerk 72 67 73

213 – Wade Jacobs 72 71 70, Jacques Blaauw 74 69 70, Merrick Bremner 75 68 70, DK Kim 71 70 72, Keelan van Wyk 67 73 73, Luca Filippi 70 69 74, Callum Mowat 70 69 74, Jean Hugo 67 71 75

214 – James Mack 75 69 70, Gerhard Pepler 68 73 73, Rhys West 70 71 73

215 – Erhard Lambrechts 73 71 71, Yurav Premlall 74 70 71, Michael Kok 70 73 72, Christiaan Basson 71 71 73

216 – Keagan Thomas 75 70 71, Dayne Moore 72 73 71, Franklin Manchest 72 72 72, Hayden Griffiths 72 70 74

217 – Luke Brown 71 71 75

218 – Lyle Rowe 71 73 74, Kyle Barker 70 73 75

219 – Stefan Wears-Taylor 72 73 74, Jovan Rebula 70 74 75, Gerhard Trytsman 70 71 78

220 – Allister de Kock 73 70 77

Photo Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour