George Coetzee had the round of the day on Sunday in the final round of the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, with a seven-under-par 65 on the Old Course at St Andrews giving him a share of 17th place.
He started his round on the 10th, and, but for a bogey on his second-last hole of the day, the eighth, he would have carded a 64. Instead, he finished on nine-under-par for the week, six strokes behind the winner, Ryan Fox of New Zealand. Fox carded a closing four-under 68 to win by one from Alex Noren of Sweden and England’s Callum Shinkwin on 14-under-par.
Coetzee started the day at two-under through 54 holes, and, after two pars to get things going, reeled off five birdies in succession. He took a breath on the Road Hole with a par, and then birdied 18. He had three more birdies, on one, three and nine, and just that single dropped shot which kept him out of the top 10.
With three more events before the Nedbank Golf Challenge, he climbed to 62nd in the DP World Tour rankings, and looks set to make another appearance in ‘Africa’s Major’.
He wasn’t the top-finishing South African, however: Louis Oosthuizen closed with a four-under-par 68 to climb to eight-under for the tournament and a share of 10th. He battled through the first two rounds with a level-par 72 on Carnoustie and a one-over 73 in dreadful weather on Kingsbarns. But he rekindled his love-affair with the Old Course, where he won the Open Championship in 2010, with a seven-under 65 in the third round ahead of the cut, and then sealed a good week with his Sunday 68.
Daniel van Tonder had a closing 69 to finish eight-under in a share of 20th, and Louis de Jager signed off with a four-under-par 68 to reach seven-under in a share of 22nd. Jaco Ahlers had a three-under 69 to take him to four-under in 42nd, and Richard Sterne closed with a two-under 70 to finish 48th on three-under. Oliver Bekker battled to a six-over 78 to be one-under for the week in a share of 56th.
Rookie pros Christiaan Burke and Casey Jarvis both made the cut in by far their biggest professional test so far. Burke had a 77 in the final round – after a superb opening 66 on the Old Course and a 65 in the third round at Kingsbarns – to finish in a share of 48th on three-under. Jarvis opened with a five-under on Kingsbarns, but battled thereafter. He finished with a two-over 74 on the Old Course to move to one-over for the tournament and a share of 61st.
