Rohwer roars to Race to Q-School victory

KwaZulu-Natal golfer Martin Rohwer backed up a superb eagle at Killarney Country Club’s 15th with three straight pars to collect his first IGT Challenge Tour trophy in the Race to Q-School series on Thursday.

The 23-year-old rookie from Kloof posted the low round of the day – a four-under-par 66 – in the 15th event of the Sunshine Tour Prep Series to close out a one shot victory on seven under over seasoned campaigner Coert Groenewald.

Rohwer began the last day two off the pace, but closed the gap on joint overnight leader Dean O’Riley with a pair of birdies at the second and seventh. He edged ahead briefly with a birdie at 10, but gave the shot back at 11 when he leaked his tee shot right into the trees.

A brief look at the on-course leaderboard at 15 sparked a great drive that flew straight down the middle of the par five and a superb seven iron into the green set Rohwer up for his maiden breakthrough.

“I hit a cracking tee-shot and the distance was just perfect,” he said. “I left myself a six footer for eagle and boxed the putt. Coert had the lead at six under, but the eagle gave me the lead.

“I thought he would make a birdie over the last three holes, so I played conservatively, although I hoped to pick up at least one more birdie. When I got 18, I saw he finished at six under, so I just made sure that I got the par for the win.

“It’s such a great feeling to get a win under the belt with Q-School just four weeks away. This is what I’ve been building towards for the last eight months.”

Rohwer began competing on the country’s premier golf development circuit after he graduated the University of Alabama at Birmingham last year. He credits Shaun Coetzee for his victory.

“I started working with Shaun at the Institute of Elite Golfers at Kloof Country Club about two months ago and I really feel his has helped me reach this point,” said Rohwer.

“My overall game is a lot more consistent, but I am also mentally better equipped and a stronger on the golf course. It’s nice to see some positive outcomes from the work we’ve been doing and hopefully I can keep building on this over the last three Race to Q-School events.”

Final Result

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

203 – Martin Rohwer 69 68 66

204 – Coert Groenewald 67 70 67

206 – Dean O’Riley 65 70 71

207 – Dylan O’Leary 69 69 69

208 – Oscar Stark (SWE) 71 69 68, Bryce McCabe 69 70 69

209 – Dongkwan Kim (KOR) 69 70 70, NJ Arnoldi 70 68 71

210 – Conway Kunneke 71 70 69, Duane Keun 72 68 70, Matthew Spacey 64 73 73

211 – Sam Botham (ENG) 69 72 70

212 – Francois Coetzee 67 75 70, Gary Daoust (BEL) 71 67 74, Gregg Blainey (ENG) 71 64 77

213 – Shaun Barrett AMA 72 70 71, Matt Bright 70 71 72, Quintin Crause 74 72 67, Werner van Wyk 67 70 76

214 – Thabang Simon 70 74 70, John McClean (NIR) 68 75 71, Justin Turner 71 70 73, Thriston Lawrence 73 73 68

215 – Philip Geerts AMA (ITA) 72 73 70, Paul de Beer 68 73 74

216 – Bennie van der Merwe 73 71 72, Jabulane Mabilane 69 72 75, Thabi Ngcobo 72 73 71, Stefan Labuschagne AMA 70 75 71, Arno Pretorius AMA 77 68 71

217 – Edoardo Torrieri (ITA) 69 74 74, Bryce Myburgh 73 71 73, Damian Naicker 71 70 76, Martin Dewhurst (ENG) 69 71 77

218 – Calvin Caldeira 71 74 73, Richard O’Donovan (IRE) 74 72 72

219 – Paul Colditz AMA 70 74 75, Alex van Heerden AMA 72 71 76, Otto van Greunen 75 68 76, Gilson Filho (BRA) 73 70 76, Divan Marais 70 74 75, Jason Rossiter AMA 73 72 74, Stephan de Beer 77 69 73, Michael Kok AMA 72 74 73, Brandon Lydon AMA 75 71 73

220 – Jonathan Waschefort 72 72 76, Ruan Korb AMA 72 72 76, Wayne Stroebel 75 71 74, Stephan Erasmus AMA 71 76 73

221 – Hendrikus Stoop AMA 71 76 74

222 – Tertius van den Berg 73 73 76, Shane Irwin AMA (IRE) 73 73 76

223 – WM Coetzee AMA 71 73 79

224 – Lincon Cele 71 73 80, Leon Visser AMA 72 73 79, Eric Nel AMA 74 73 77, Clinton Cheia 70 77 77

225 – Kyle Barker 71 72 82, Norman Beggs 74 72 79

DSQ – Shaun van Tonder 75 69 DSQ