Perhaps it’s tough to beat qualifying for your first major championship, but Deon Germishuys might feel he did just that as he came close to winning the DP World Tour’s KLM Open at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, Netherlands on Sunday.
Germishuys, who played his way into the US Open when he won the Final Qualifying event at Walton Heath in England on May 16, finished in a share of third in the Netherlands after his final round of three-under-par 69 left him three strokes behind the winner Pablo Larrazabal of Spain. Larrazabal beat out countryman Adrian Otaegui by two when he birdied the final two holes. The South African shared third with Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard.
Germishuys pulled off his maiden Sunshine Tour victory in the Sishen Classic almost exactly a year ago, and parlayed that success into his DP World Tour card via the Challenge Tour’s top 20 last year. On Sunday, he had his second top-10 performance in five starts on the DP World Tour and he took home nearly R2.25-million for his efforts.
More than that, he climbed 46 places on the Race to Dubai rankings to 69th, and closer to the top 60 which would get him into the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Also, it shows that he is made of the kind of stuff that will make him a perennial contender at this level, and likely make him a champion sooner rather than later.
He got out of the blocks fast on Sunday, with three birdies in a row from the third. He bogeyed the sixth, but immediately regained that stroke with another birdie on the seventh. But battle as he might, he was unable to pick up any strokes on his homeward nine, strokes that might have held off the Spanish charge.
No matter the outcome, Germishuys will know he has taken a step up, and he will approach the rest of the season with confidence as he pushes to join the European elite.
Next-best of the South Africans who made the cut was Louis de Jager, who also signed off with a 69 to finish in a share of 29th on three-under for the week. Jayden Schaper battled to a fourth round of three-over 75, and, at two-over for the tournament, was in a share of 67th.
