As JJ Senekal drove to the Zebula golf course for Sunday’s final round of the SDC Open, his new favourite playlist was on the car radio. The volume was turned up to 21. That’s when he decided to turn it up to 25, to match his desired target of 25 under par to win this tournament.
A few hours later, Senekal rolled in a birdie putt on the 18th to win this Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour tournament with a final round of 65 and by four strokes. On 25 under par.
“It was very emotional. I put a lot of hard work into this starting from the beginning of last year. It all comes down to hard work. This means the world to me. I was knocking for quite a while now and this week was a good example of staying patient, playing good golf and knowing what to do and when to do it,” Senekal said after his wire-to-wire victory.
Casey Jarvis took second place on 21 under par with a closing 67, and the young South African threw everything at Senekal during a thrilling back nine in which he chipped in for eagle on the 15th and then holed a huge birdie putt on 16 to close to within one shot of Senekal with two holes to play.
But the par-three 17th proved the differentiator as Senekal birdied the hole and Jarvis made bogey after missing the green with his tee shot. That gave Senekal a three-shot lead playing the 18th.
“Keeping Casey off my back was hard. Well done to him. He played an unbelievable round of golf. He really chased me down on the back nine. He started firing over the last few holes but I did what I needed to and hit some good golf shots,” said Senekal.
But even with a three-shot lead, Senekal delivered an incredible approach that left him with a two-foot putt for birdie on the 18th.
“It was a big relief. I thought I’d hit it short but once you see the ball next to the hole and you know you’ve got a three-shot lead and are tapping in for birdie, it’s all the pressure off your shoulders. It feels amazing. It’s been five years since my last win. To finally get it done is a great feeling.”
Senekal also won himself a 20-year Zebula Holiday Villa Share worth R320 000. – Michael Vlismas
Scores:
263 – JJ Senekal 62 67 69 65
267 – Casey Jarvis 68 66 66 67
269 – Pieter Moolman 70 67 65 67, Jaco Prinsloo 68 67 66 68
270 – Bradley Bawden 69 66 69 66, Lorenzo Scalise 67 69 67 67
271 – Pierre Pineau 68 69 71 63, Adam Blomme 69 68 66 68, Martin Vorster 64 69 68 70
272 – Ruan Korb 71 67 70 64, Manuel Elvira 69 68 65 70
273 – Estiaan Conradie 67 67 70 69
274 – Malcolm Mitchell 72 65 70 67, Combrinck Smit 69 65 72 68, Matteo Manassero 68 70 71 65, Ugo Coussaud 68 68 68 70, Victor Pastor 65 69 69 71
275 – Gregorio De Leo 70 70 68 67, Tom Murray 68 67 72 68, Niklas Regner 70 68 70 67, Liam Johnston 72 68 69 66, Alvaro Quiros 67 73 67 68, Alfie Plant 67 67 71 70, Clement Berardo 68 68 67 72
276 – Stuart Manley 67 71 69 69, Danie Van Niekerk 67 71 69 69, Mikael Lundberg 68 69 71 68, Francesco Laporta 71 66 69 70, Louis Albertse 71 67 68 70
277 – Hennie O’Kennedy 69 69 69 70, Velten Meyer 70 70 67 70, Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon 68 69 72 68, Victor Garcia Broto 65 70 74 68, Christopher Mivis 70 69 67 71, Jamie Rutherford 68 69 68 72, Marco Penge 68 69 66 74, Jeppe Kristian Andersen 70 69 73 65
278 – Chris Paisley 68 72 68 70, Benjamin Rusch 72 67 69 70, Craig Howie 69 67 72 70, Steven Brown 71 68 68 71, Luca Filippi 71 68 70 69, Herman Loubser 65 70 71 72, Jacques P de Villiers 71 67 68 72, Jonathan Thomson 69 70 71 68
279 – Javier Sainz 70 69 70 70, Keagan Thomas 70 67 72 70, Felix Mory 72 67 71 69, Jacques Kruyswijk 69 69 67 74, Oliver Lindell 70 67 73 69
280 – Ashley Chesters 68 69 70 73, Nicolai Kristensen 70 69 68 73, Benjamin Follett-Smith 70 70 71 69
281 – Joel Sjoholm 69 70 70 72, Anton Karlsson 72 68 70 71, Lucas Vacarisas 70 69 71 71, Tristen Strydom 71 67 72 71, Kyle McClatchie 72 66 72 71, OJ Farrell 70 69 72 70
282 – Brandon Stone 71 68 69 74, Luke Brown 71 66 74 71
283 – Borja Virto 70 68 72 73, CJ du Plessis 74 66 71 72
284 – Ryan Van Velzen 73 67 73 71, Alex Haindl 70 70 74 70
285 – Christopher Feldborg Nielsen 69 70 71 75
286 – James Allan 69 71 73 73
RTD – Henric Sturehed 70 70 67 RTD
