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Fleetwood wins play-off after mounting late charge in Sun City

European Tour: Tommy Fleetwood came out on top in the play-off with Marcus Kinhult to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge after surging up the leaderboard.

By Peter Thompson
Fleetwoodcropped

Sun City, Nov 17: Tommy Fleetwood came out on top in a play-off with Marcus Kinhult to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge after surging up the leaderboard with a magnificent closing seven-under 65.

Fleetwood started his final round six shots behind adrift of leader Zander Lombard in Sun City and finished it with a first title since January 2018 along with a cheque for USD 2,500,000.

The European Ryder Cup star hit the turn in 31 and a second successive eagle three at the 10th took him to the summit at the Gary Player Country Club.

Fleetwood's momentum was halted by back-to-back bogeys, but a third eagle at 14 following a superb approach shot to within 10 feet of the pin put him back into a share of the lead with Kinhult.

A fourth birdie of the day at 15 gave the Englishman a two-shot advantage, but he gave that stroke straight back at the next hole and pars at 17 and 18 ensured he set the clubhouse target at 12 under.

Kinhult made just the one gain on the back nine after going out in 33 – having birdied the first three holes – and a four-under 68 was enough to force a play-off.

It was not to be for the Swede, though, as a poor tee shot resulted in a bogey and Fleetwood got up and down to save par, claiming his second Rolex Series title and the biggest European Tour cash prize in history.

Fleetwood also moves up to second in the Race to Dubai rankings, with leader Bernd Wiesberger unable to wrap the title up with a week to spare after finishing in a share of third place with Thomas Detry and Jason Scrivener.

The battle to be crowned European number one will be settled at what promises to be a thrilling season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next weekend.

Defending champion Lee Westwood took a share of sixth place with Louis Oosthuizen, while Lombard saw a maiden European Tour title slips through his fingers as he carded a five-over 77 to finish four off the pace home soil.

Story first published: Sunday, November 17, 2019, 21:32 [IST]
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