23/09/2016 Free Drop Newsletter

Women’s IPT Profiles, Promotion for Parry and a maiden title for Premlall

Women’s IPT: Western Province Player Profiles

Photo credit: Western Province Golf

Ahead of the 2024 SA Women’s IPT at Humewood Golf Club, get to know the four players who will be flying the flag for Western Province!

Odette Booysen (Westlake Golf Club)

Bobbi Brown, Captain, Steenberg Golf Club)

Zayaan Hendricks (Atlantic Beach Golf Club)

Kaitlyn van de Vyfer (Royal Cape Golf Club)

DP World Tour: Horschel’s stunning finish lands BMW PGA title

Photo credit: DP World Tour/X

Billy Horschel defeated Rory McIlroy with an eagle at the second playoff hole to win his second BMW PGA Championship in three years.

Horschel, McIlroy and South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence ended regulation tied on 20-under par at Wentworth Club. Horschel and McIlroy shot Sunday five-under 67s while Lawrence shot a bogey-free 65 which featured seven birdies.

After keeping a clean card in regulation, Lawrence bowed out on the first extra hole after a bogey-6 at the 18th while Horschel and McIlroy extended proceedings through matching birdies.

After both finding the 18th in two on their second trip down the 18th, McIlroy saw his eagle putt slide by the hole. Horschel’s however found the heart of the cup as the American notched the third DP World Tour title of his career.

LPGA Tour: Ko wins 22nd career title

Photo credit: LPGA Tour/X

Lydia Ko earned the 22nd title of her LPGA career with a commanding five-stroke win at the Queen City Championship.

The New Zealander was simply too good for the rest of the field in the final round. A bogey-free outward nine featuring three birdies preceded some back-nine brilliance during which she complemented four birdies with an eagle-3 at the 11th.

In all the Olympic Gold Medalist needed just 24 putts and 63 shots to plot her way to a fourth win of the season, leaving Jeeno Thitikul, who carded a final round two-under 70, in her wake.

LIV Golf: Aussie Ripper GC win Team Champs

Photo credit: LIV Golf/Facebook

Ripper GC, LIV Golf’s designated Australian team, won the Team Championship by three over the 4Aces and Iron Heads in the final event of the season.

The first two days of the Team Championship consisted of Team match play while the final day saw the four-man teams play 18 holes of strokeplay.

Penultimate-hole birdies from Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert meant Ripper GC were two shots up playing the last. When two-time Major winner Dustin Johnson found water off the tee, it afforded Smith’s side breathing room which remained intact on the last hole.

At day’s end, Smith’s four-under 68 was complemented by 69 from Herbert and 70s from Marc Leishman and Matt Jones. 

This enabled them to eclipse the 4Aces of Johnson and Patrick Reed (both 69), Pat Perez and Harold Varner who both shot 71.

Sunshine Tour: Premlall wins maiden title in Sishen

Photo credit: Sunshine Tour/X

Yurav Premlall had been knocking on the door throughout the current season and at the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Sishen Golf Club the door to the Sunshine Tour winner’s circle opened with a final round six-under 66 and a one-shot victory over Martin Vorster.

Having made the cut in every event he’s played this season, posting two runners-up and another two third-place finishes Premlall’s breakthrough seemed imminent. 

But after starting the final round four adrift of Deon Germishuys and slipping a further shot behind after an opening hole bogey, he had work to do. A bounce-back birdie-4 at the 2nd was a sign of the great things to come and Premlall picked up further shots at the 5th, 7th and 8th to turn in three-under 33.

He’d add three more red numbers to his tally on the inward-nine and kept a clean card for good measure, pipping Vorster to a maiden title after the latter carded a two-under 70 on Sunday.

A final round one-over 73 relegated overnight leader Germishuys into a three-way share of fifth-place with Matthew Spacey and Heinrich Bruiners.

Challenge Tour: Parry earns DP World Tour promotion

Photo credit: Challenge Tour/X

A final round three-under 68 earned John Parry a one-shot victory at the Italian Challenge Open and with it automatic promotion to the DP World Tour after his third win in 2024.

Victories at the Delhi Challenge and Open de Bretagne meant the Englishman has stood on the threshold of automatic promotion back to the main Tour since June. 

Parry held a two-stroke 54-hole advantage over Conor Purcell and didn’t put a foot wrong in the final round, carding birdies at his first, fifth and sixth holes of the day to turn in three-under 32.

Nine closing pars would follow and a return to the DP World Tour less than a year since losing his card at the end of the 2023 season.

Korn Ferry Tour: Capan wins Nationwide Championship

Photo credit: Korn Ferry Tour/X

A one-under 70 and a 13-under tournament total saw Frankie Capan win the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship by two strokes over Carter Jenkins and William Mouw.

Capan improved in each of his opening three rounds, following a round one three-under 68 with a 67 and a Saturday 66.

Capan’s Sunday was something of a rollercoaster as he mixed three birdies with two bogeys on the front-9. Having turned in one-under par, a 12th hole birdie offset a dropped shot at the 11th before six closing pars sealed Capan’s maiden Korn Ferry Tour title.

PGA Tour Champions: Broadhurst wins Pure Insurance Championship

Photo credit: PGA Tour Champions/X

A second round eight-under 64 at Pebble Beach afforded Paul Broadhurst the luxury of winning the Pure Insurance Championship by three over Alex Cejka despite carding an even-par 72 in the final round.

After the fireworks of his eight-birdie second round, Broadhurst’s Sunday was comparatively sedate. A birdie-3 at the 4th snapped a sequence of three opening pars before eight straight pars ensued.

Bogeys at the 13th and 15th preceded Broadhurst’s fitting finish: A birdie-4 at Pebble Beach’s iconic closing hole to close out a comfortable seventh win of the Englishman’s Champions Tour career.

Fun Facts & Scary Stats

1. Five of the newly-retired Mark O’Meara’s 16 PGA Tour wins came at Pebble Beach.
2. Having played in 58 Majors before a maiden win at the 1998 Masters Tournament, Mark O’Meara took just two more Major starts to win a second Major at the 1998 Open Championship.
3. Lydia Ko has carded 134 bogey-free rounds on the LPGA Tour since 2014, 50 more than next-best Lizette Salas (Credit: Justin Ray Golf)
4. Matteo Manassero’s 54-hole total of 18-under par set a new three-round record at the BMW PGA Championship. 

Saturday Competition Results

Get caught up on selected Saturday Club Competition Results from around the Western Cape.