By Matthews Mfubu
A strong start to the second and final round of the Bushveld Golf Tour’s two-day event at Serengeti Golf Estate gave Christiaan Burke the fuel he needed as he dazzled to an action-packed seven-under-par 65 which earned him his fourth title on this circuit.
Burke’s tournament total of 15-under-par 129 was solid enough to hand him a two-stroke win over Yurav Premlall on Friday afternoon in Ekurhuleni.
He brought a two-shot lead into the final round at Serengeti and just as he had done on day one, Burke birdied three of the first four holes to race clear of the field, which was still led by Yurav Premlall at this point. Premlall made two pars and two birdies in those first four holes.
Both Burke and Premlall dropped on the fifth but Burke bounced back with a birdie-par-eagle run. The young Premlall recovered just as smoothly, going par-birdie-birdie on that same three-hole stretch. But slowly making his way up the leaderboard was Kyle McClatchie who was seven-under and bogey-free through 11 holes.
McClatchie did drop on the 13th but he swiftly made a birdie the next hole to make amends while closing off with two pars and a birdie on the last. His day-two 64 earned him the second spot ahead of Premlall on 13-under while the latter’s back-to-back bogeys on 17 and 18 relegated him to the third spot on 10-under for the tournament.
“This was exactly the kind of start I wanted to settle the nerves,” Burke said after his victory, “and after that, I just played my game.”
Following his eagle on eight, Burke made par on nine before picking up a birdie on the 10th and then he dropped on 12. Burke continued to show excellent course management as he picked up four straight pars which were followed by an eagle on 16 before closing with back-to-back pars.
“I love this course a lot and I play here almost every day,” Burke continued, “so I know it quite well. I knew exactly where I could capitalise on the course today. I knew Kyle (McClatchie) was the only one who was closest to me towards the end there, so I just knew I had to relax and focus on my own game.”
Kiera Floyd played herself to a solo fourth-spot finish on a tournament total of six-under-par 138 with Bradley Diggeden and Ryan van Velzen sharing the fifth position at five-under 139. Jonathan Waschefort and Michael Kok finished tied for seventh while Thomas Strandemo took solo 10th at three-under-par 141 this week.
