Emotional playoff victory for Gumberg in SDC Championship

America’s Jordan Gumberg claimed a thrilling victory in the SDC Championship at St Francis Links on Sunday when he beat South Africa’s Robin Williams in a playoff.

Gumberg and Williams finished regulation play tied for the lead on 12 under par following their respective final rounds of 68 and 69.

On a day when the wind of the previous three days gave way to rain, Williams had seemed destined to claim the victory as he held a two-shot lead over the American with two holes to play.

However, the South African found the greenside bunker on the par-three 17th and made a double bogey from a plugged lie to slip back into a tie for the lead with Gumberg.

They both parred the par-four 18th as the first playoff hole. Gumberg then birdied the hole on the second attempt to claim his maiden DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour title.

“I’m so thankful to be standing here,” said Gumberg at the end of a dramatic final round.

“Coming down the last couple of holes there is always a point where it feels like it’s slipped away from you. It felt like that for me. So I’m just thankful to be standing here.”

Frenchman David Ravetto took third place on 10 under par with a final round of 70.

The win changes Gumberg’s plans significantly. Before this he was a European Challenge Tour golfer unable to plan his schedule.

“It means everything. I never really got this far in my dreams. It’s what we work so hard for every single day. To my family back home – my dad has put so much into my golf game. It means the world to all of us,” he said while holding back the tears. – Michael Vlismas

SCORES:

276 – Jordan Gumberg * won in playoff
276 – Robin Williams
278 – David Ravetto
280 – Jamie Donaldson, Marcus Armitage, Nick Bachem, Andy Sullivan, Daniel Brown, Connor Syme
281 – Thriston Lawrence, Jbe’ Kruger
282 – Gavin Green, Casey Jarvis, Tom McKibbin, James Nicholas
283 – Keenan Davidse, Julien Brun, Thomas Aiken, Francesco Laporta
284 – Ewen Ferguson, Daniel van Tonder, Haydn Barron, Adri Arnaus
285 – Adrian Otaegui, Shaun Norris, Nikhil Rama, Wilco Nienaber, Louis de Jager, Jeff Winther, Ugo Coussaud
286 – Ockie Strydom, Manuel Elvira, Clement Sordet, Adrien Saddier, Malcolm Mitchell
287 – Keagan Thomas, Matteo Manassero, Angel Hidalgo, Lyle Rowe, Rikuya Hoshino
288 – Oliver Bekker, Ivan Cantero, Richie Ramsay
289 – Nacho Elvira, Ryan Van Velzen, Anthony Michael
290 – Anton Karlsson, Lorenzo Scalise, Matthew Baldwin, Ruan Korb, Espen Kofstad
291 – Benjamin Follett-Smith
292 – Dylan Mostert, Jake Redman
293 – Sebastian Friedrichsen, Keith Horne, Dylan Frittelli, James Morrison
294 – Jayden Schaper
295 – Hennie Otto
296 – Jack Hawksby, Matthias Schwab
297 – Oliver Wilson
298 – Rupert Kaminski
305 – Stefan Wears-Taylor
Missed the cut:-
146 – CJ du Plessis, Antoine Rozner, Jaco Ahlers, Samuel Jones, Albert Venter, Brandon Stone, Sam Bairstow, Ashun Wu, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Pieter Moolman
147 – Peter Karmis, Hennie O’Kennedy, Jordan Smith, Heinrich Bruiners, JJ Senekal, Jeong Weon Ko, Martin Vorster, Kyle De Beer, Aneurin Gounden, JC Ritchie
148 – Tom Lewis, Todd Clements, Freddy Schott, Santiago Tarrio, Julien Guerrier, Stuart Manley, Joel Girrbach
149 – Wynand Dingle, Jaco Prinsloo, Robson Chinhoi, Fredrik From, Yurav Premlall, Matthis Besard, Neil Schietekat, Will Enefer, Hennie du Plessis, Darren Fichardt, Jacques Blaauw, Jason Scrivener, Benjamin Rusch, Louis Albertse, Jacques P de Villiers
150 – Toto Thimba Jnr, Dylan Naidoo, Jean Hugo, Oliver Hundeboll, Max Rottluff, Jaco Van Zyl, Dan Erickson, Sean Bradley
151 – Keegan Mclachlan, Reinhardt Blaauw, Justin Walters, Rourke van der Spuy, Soren Kjeldsen, Chase Hanna, Marco Penge, Karabo Mokoena
152 – Ross Fisher, Hurly Long, Zander Lombard, Keita Nakajima, Deon Germishuys, MJ Viljoen, Om Prakash Chouhan
153 – Kyle Barker, James Hart du Preez, Romain Langasque, Guxin Chen, Gunner Wiebe, Jonas Blixt, Tom Vaillant, Garrick Porteous, Tristen Strydom
154 – Pierre Pellegrin, Bjorn Akesson, Ricardo Gouveia, Luca Filippi
155 – Jovan Rebula, Andrea Pavan, Jacquin Hess
156 – Herman Loubser, David Law, Martin Rohwer
157 – Combrinck Smit, Joost Luiten, Niklas Norgaard
158 – Gerhard Pepler
159 – Tristin Galant, Richie O’Donovan
160 – Sebastian Garcia