Cool-hand Kruse captures Ebotse Challenge

The 20-year-old Silver Lakes golfer loves nothing more than to be tested and, on a blustery day at Ebotse Links, the amateur did not let the brutal wind get in the way of his title charge.

Kruse thwarted Carrie Park’s bid to become the first female winner on the unisex Tour when he edged her out to claim a one stroke victory at one-under 215.

“I am over the moon, because the conditions were really rough, but I hung in there, especially on the back nine to fight my way to victory,” said Kruse.

“We had to fight the wind on a really tight course, so any mistake was punished.

Kruse began the final round two shots behind Park and one off the pace from first round leader Duane Keun.

When Park squandered her overnight lead with a bogey-bogey start, Kruse and Keun pounced.

Kruse moved into contention with a trio of birdies from the fifth and Keun also fired three successive birdies before the turn to start the back nine at two under with a one shot lead over Kruse and Park.

Keun’s title hunt folded after double bogeys at 11, 14 and 15, though, and Park took a one shot lead over Kruse after offsetting a bogey at 12 with a birdie at 13.

When Park double bogeyed 14, Kruse moved into pole position and kept the lead with bogey-birdie combination at 14 and 15.

“I parred the 16th and hit a good tee shot at 17, but I hit my second right of the green,” Kruse said.

“I hit a pretty good chip, but it got caught in the grain and stopped almost as soon as it hit the green.

“I didn’t make the par putt, so I headed to the last hole at even par.

“I was 60 metres short of the green and getting ready to play my third shot when I found out that I had a one shot lead.

“I knew I had to make that shot count and I caught my sand-wedge perfectly and parked the ball two feet from the hole.”

Park signed off with a 74 to secure her second runner-up finish this season, while former IGT Tour winner Terence Boardman closed with a 69 to finish in third on 218.

Full results are:

All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs are indicated as AMA:

215 – Phillip Kruse AMA 73 71 71

216 – Carrie Park 75 67 74

218 – Terence Boardman 76 73 69

219 – Dean O’Riley 74 71 74

220 – Gregg Blainey (ENG) 74 72 74, Pieter Moolman 72 73 75, Duane Keun 69 74 77

222 – Nicole Garcia 73 73 76, Jayden Schaper AMA 72 73 77

223 – Martin Rohwer 75 74 74, Coert Groenewald 76 71 76, Jonathan Waschefort 77 70 76

224 – Joshua Seale 73 79 72

227 – Nobuhle Dlamini (SWA) 76 76 75, Tristen Strydom AMA 77 74 76, Hilton Hughes AMA 73 76 78, Simon Kruger 74 72 81

228 – Damian Naicker 76 79 73

229 – Matt Bright 81 70 78, Ray Badenhorst (ZIM) 83 71 75, Bradley Diggeden AMA 78 74 77, Etienne Janse van Rensburg AMA 75 70 84

230 – JP Schmidt AMA 78 77 75, Jacques de Villiers 79 73 78, Phumlani Maluka AMA 79 73 78, Armand van Dyk AMA 76 74 80, Wesley Baptiste AMA 76 70 84

231 – Ivanna Samu AMA 77 74 80, Matthew Spacey 75 79 77

232 – Matthew Vogel 83 72 77

233 – Karl Lehmacher AMA 80 79 74, Leon Visser AMA 77 76 80, Teagan Moore 76 75 82

234 – Eric Nel AMA 81 73 80, Shaun van Tonder 75 78 81

235 – Chris van Tonder AMA 79 79 77, Dwayne Coetzee 80 77 78

237 – Bryce Myburgh 81 76 80

239 – Lourens du Plessis 86 73 80, WM Coetzee AMA 78 80 81

240 – Albert Visser AMA 77 82 81, Tiaan Swart AMA 80 78 82, Shaun Barrett AMA 74 79 87

241 – Stephan Erasmus AMA 81 75 85

242 – Johan van der Wath 76 83 83

243 – David Nortje AMA 84 74 85

RTD – Altaaf Bux 78 74 RTD, Brandon Pieters 76 68 RTD

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