Daniel van Tonder produced a scintillating closing stretch of two birdies and an eagle to win The Serengeti Playoffs, the first tournament on The Courier Guy Playoffs series, by two strokes at Serengeti Estates on Sunday.

Van Tonder’s strong finish to his final round of 63 saw him finish on 21 under par, with Wilco Nienaber (65) and Allen John (68) sharing second place on 19 under par.

For Van Tonder, it capped a longstanding goal to finally get his hands on this trophy and claim a victory during The Courier Guy Playoffs portion of the Sunshine Tour.

“It means a lot. I’ve been playing this tournament a few times and always just seen the trophy, now I finally have it in my trophy case. Also, winning the pro-am on the Saturday means a lot. I’ve been playing well and trying to find my game, and it seems like we’ve now found something. So I will take that forward. I am just very blessed and happy,” Van Tonder said.

On a cool, wet and windy Sunday at Serengeti Estates, Van Tonder’s strong back nine started with birdies on the 14th and 16th holes, followed by an eagle two on the 17th hole where he drove the green, before a birdie on the 18th hole.

“It was fantastic. There was an opportunity and I could sense it. I attacked today and it worked out. I was very happy with the birdie-eagle-birdie finish. That putt on the 18th though, I had that putt a few times before and lost some cash missing it, so I knew the line,” Van Tonder said.

Stef Visagie, his caddie, received the medal for the winning caddie.

Van Tonder’s victory has moved him into fourth place on The Courier Guy Order of Merit heading into the season’s final event, the DNi Tour Championship at De Zalze Golf Club at the end of this month.