Dylan Mostert hit a sublime approach to the par-five 10th at Irene Country Club on Sunday on his way to his maiden Sunshine Tour title when he won the Kit Kat Group Pro-Am by three strokes with a 54-hole total of 17-under-par.
He eventually didn’t make eagle on the 10th, but he did make birdie, together with five more birdies and two bogeys, and that gave him a comfortable cushion over runner-up MJ Viljoen, who closed with a five-under 67 to reach 14-under. Louis Albertse was third on 12-under, and Kyle Barker and Ryan van Velzen shared fourth on 11-under.
“The ball was lying okay,” said Mostert of his second on 10, after he pushed his tee-shot to the left, “but I felt like a lay-up was harder than going for the green with my second shot. I couldn’t really gauge the distance of the tree in front of me. I had my hybrid in my hand, and then I thought I should lay up. At the last minute, I took the hybrid and hit a huge fade around the tree and it just came out good.”
It wasn’t the only time Mostert produced a clutch shot in the final round. He made bogey on the second, and that could easily have sent him into a downward spiral. But he ended up standing over a treacherous looking chip from the right of the third green, and he calmly pitched it perfectly and watched as it rolled in for birdie.
That not only galvanised him for the rest of the round, it also validated all the work he has been putting in as he battled to find that elusive first title. “Just the last couple of weeks, I’ve really been struggling with the game,” he said. “But I’ve been grinding a lot, working with my mental coach, and just trying to find results. And all the hard work just came together this week with my mental game.”
He became the fourth first-time winner this season on the Sunshine Tour, after Herman Loubser, Albert Venter and Deon Germishuys. He felt after Venter won in Zimbabwe in May that he could be next on the list. He wasn’t – Germishuys beat him to it – but he didn’t have to wait too much longer. “I just felt all my grinding had to come together,” he said. “All the hard work I’ve put in, I just felt like this was around the corner.
“There have been a lot of years of heartbreak, sacrifice… and now, I don’t even know what to say.”
