Not even a bogey at the closing hole could dampen West’s joy when he closed with an eight-under-par 65.
After all, the 25-year-old had reeled in eight birdies in a near flawless performance to finish on 18-under-par 270, three strokes clear of Sunshine Tour professional CJ du Plessis and top amateur Callum Mowat.
The Limpopo pro grabbed a share of the second round lead with Tyrone Ryan and edged ahead of his opponent in the third to take a one-shot lead into the final round, while West began the day five shots off the pace in a tie with Race to Q-School winner Mowat.
Du Plessis was off to a promising, but after an eagle-three at the fourth, the short-stick froze and the GFC Academy player just couldn’t buy a putt for the next 10 holes.
A bogey, double combination at the 15th and 16th killed du Plessis’ challenge and the 22-year-old had to settle for a share of second after a disappointing 73.
Mowat, meanwhile, picked up birdies at the second, fourth and sixth holes to turn in three under. He dropped a shot at the 11th, but closed with a pair of birdies to vault into second with his third 68 of the week.
Rhys enjoyed a prolific amateur career in South Africa during which he won the SA Boys u-16 and u-19 Stroke Play Championships.
He was ranked among the top juniors in South Africa when he left for the US in 2007 to pursue his golf at the Southeastern Louisiana University.
The 25-year-old will take a lot of confidence from the victory into the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School at the end of the month when he joined 251 other hopefuls in the quest for one of the 30 cards on offer.
Mowat, too, is feeling confident after adding yet another top three finish to his growing tally on the IGT Tour.
“We only have one more warm-up event left next week, and then it’s time to step up and be counted,” Mowat said.
“This was exactly the kind of result I was chasing.
“You need to take this kind of consistency to Q-School because of the pressure that awaits; you need your game to hold up. I’m really chuffed with my performance this week and I’ll be looking for another solid performance at CMR.”
Top 10 result: All competitors South African unless otherwise specified. Amateurs indicated as (AM):
270 – Rhys West 68 69 68 65
273 – Callum Mowat (AM) 68 68 69 68, CJ du Plessis 67 67 66 73
274 – Otto van Greunen 65 74 65 70
275 – Tyrone Ryan 64 70 67 74
277 – Brendan De Lange 68 71 71 67, Ted Hendriks 68 68 67 74
278 – Gideon Pienaar 66 77 68 67
279 – Frans Strydom 69 71 72 67
280 – Nobuhle Dlamini 69 69 71 71
281 – Lean Boezaart 68 69 72 72
283 – Marco Scarola (AM) 70 75 67 71, Juan Langeveld 71 71 69 72, Naithen Moore (AM) 67 69 71 76, Ryan Clarke 68 69 70 76
