Ruan Korb blitzed the field on Saturday with a nine-under-par 63 taking him to victory in the Sunshine Tour’s Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at St Francis Links.

The left-handed Korb started the day five strokes behind the leader Ockie Strydom, and with an eagle, 10 birdies and three bogeys, he raced to 13-under-par for the 54-hole tournament and a two-stroke victory over Strydom.

“I said to the people I stayed with down here that if I could shoot 10-under, which is the course record, then I’d have a chance of winning,” said Korb. “So I just went out there going for everything, and so much of it came off. It was a pity about the bogeys, but I’m obviously thrilled to have won.”

While Korb was flying, Strydom was going along just fine, with an eagle, three birdies and a bogey through the first 10 holes taking him to 15-under and seemingly cantering to a second Sunshine Tour title. And then came a quadruple-bogey on the par-four 11^th, which quite knocked the wind out of his sails. He made par all the way home, but that was not enough to stop Korb from winning his second Sunshine Tour title.

“I had no idea what was happening with Ockie,” said Korb, “but I looked at the leaderboard after the 17^th and saw what the situation was. I was just concentrating on shooting as low as possible, and with my birdie on 16, and having just made birdie on 17, I had my hands full.

“I hit a good drive down the middle of the 18^th fairway, and then hit my second into the wind to three feet on the 18^th, so it was great to finish with three successive birdies like that.”

Doug McGuigan, a previous winner at St Francis Links, carded a closing one-under-par 71 to take third on nine-under, four behind Korb, while Hennie O’Kennedy was fourth on eight-under after he, too, signed for a third-round 71. Dylan Naidoo was fifth on seven-under after he closed with a three-over 75.

In the end, Korb was four strokes better than the next-best player on the day, and that alone was enough for the victory.

“It was great to finish things off like that, and it’s good to be getting into form before the big tournaments of the summer,” said Korb, as he eyed up the Sunshine Tour’s summer schedule.