Jayden Schaper kept the pressure on all the way on Sunday in the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, and, in the end, his closing four-under-par 68 left him in a share of second at Gary Player Country Club.
Up front, the man who took a five-stroke lead into the final round, Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan, felt the pressure as it was expected he would, and although he made four birdies on the front nine, he also made three bogeys, and dropped another shot on the 15th. He ended up signing for a closing level-par, and it was enough to hold off Schaper and a charging Dan Bradbury of England.
“This is one that you do want to win,” said Schaper afterwards. “There was a pretty big margin between us. You can’t really control what he’s going to do. He was obviously feeling his own bit of pressure, because there always is. There was also pressure for me as the leading South African in my own country. I just tried to stick to my gameplan and do what I could do.”
His 16-under-par total put him three clear of the next-best South African, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who closed with a three-under 68 for fourth place, and Shaun Norris had a 68 to finish on 11-under in fifth.
In the end, Schaper might look back at his layup on nine and his subsequent third which landed a lot further from the pin than he hoped as a turning point in what could have been an exhilarating back-nine charge. Perhaps missing the green long and left on 15 could also be looked at as a missed opportunity, but, in the end, it was another step in the making of what will almost certainly soon be a maiden DP World Tour victory.
“I know how good my game is and I know when it’s my day, I’m going to be up there competing,” he said. “After last season, when I had quite a few good weeks, quite a few top fives, this first event for me of the new season just shows me that I belong out there. And I just love being out there. I love the nerves, I love the pressure and that’s what we practice for.
“It was such a great week. It’s probably one of the coolest weeks I’ve had on a golf course. I don’t have many opportunities to have my family and friends out with me. The crowd is insane. It’s just such a cool event and I hope to be back next year.”
It’s impossible to imagine he won’t be back.
