News
Oh so easy for Fichardt
Darren Fichardt
On a wet and windy final day, the Pretoria professional crushed the rest of the field by all of seven shots in the KwaZulu-Natal leg of the Vodacom tour, closing with a 67 to win going away with his 18-under-par total.
Jbe' Kruger and Keenan Davidse finished distant second on 11-under-par.
Fichardt matched Thomas Aiken's seven-shot victory margin chalked up in the Vodacom Tour's final at The Links in 2004.
"I wanted to pip Thomas by one, but it's a nice bonus, never the less, to achieve something like that," said Fichardt, who went into the final round with a three-stroke lead and was never challenged.
Defending champion Jean Hugo charged through the field with four consecutive birdies in his first five holes to climb to 10-under. But he fell away with a double bogey on the par-four eighth.
Kruger birdied three of his first four holes and then added back-to-back birdies early on the back nine to climb to 11-under, but that's as far as he got.
Davidse, in the meantime, collected four consecutive birdies from the ninth to surge to 13-under before a double bogey on the par-three 15th stopped his charge.
But in truth, none had the answer for how to catch a man with seven Sunshine Tour and two European Tour victories, and who knows exactly how to close out a tournament.
An early birdie on the third settled Fichardt. But his dominance was at its most impressive over the turn, where he distanced himself from the field with five straight birdies from the eighth hole. And the healthy lead allowed him the luxury of two bogeys in his final four holes.
"I lost a bit of focus near the end because I had such a big margin. But I just tried to keep myself in the present and pulled it through."
Fichardt spoke earlier in the week of how he was finally over the tendinitis which has plagued him this season. One of his goals for 2010 is also to play his way back onto the European Tour.
"I've been practicing hard, working hard in the gym and been getting committed again. I've got some big goals to achieve and it was nice to get a win under the belt, especially by this kind of margin."
ALL THE FINAL ROUN D SCORES
RSA unless specified):
198 - Darren Fichardt (RSA) 65 66 67
205 - Jbe' Kruger (RSA) 68 69 68, Keenan Davidse (RSA) 70 67 68
207 - Adilson da Silva (BRA) 70 70 67
208 - Jaco Ahlers (RSA) 65 74 69, Peter Karmis (RSA) 70 67 71, Thabang Simon (RSA) 69 68 71
209 - Tyrone Mordt (RSA) 71 70 68, Jean Hugo (RSA) 68 70 71, Reggie Adams (RSA) 66 68 75
210 - Ryan Tipping (RSA) 71 69 70, Andrew Curlewis (RSA) 69 69 72
211 - Mark Murless (RSA) 71 70 70, Christiaan Basson (RSA) 70 68 73
212 - TC Charamba (ZIM) 69 67 76
213 - Desvonde Botes (RSA) 68 71 74, Alex Haindl (RSA) 66 68 79
214 - Trevor Fisher Jnr (RSA) 67 77 70, Danie van Niekerk (Jnr) 73 70 71, Andre Cruse (RSA) 70 72 72, Cameron Johnston (RSA) 71 70 73, Doug McGuigan (RSA) 69 72 73, Prinavin Nelson (RSA) 68 72 74, Lindani Ndwandwe (RSA) 71 69 74, Jaco Van Zyl (RSA) 71 67 76
215 - Theunis Spangenberg (RSA) 70 73 72, Vaughn Groenewald (RSA) 68 74 73, Steve van Vuuren (RSA) 68 74 73, Des Terblanche (RSA) 70 68 77
216 - Neil Schietekat (RSA) 72 71 73, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 68 75 73, Michael du Toit (RSA) 69 71 76
217 - Wayne Westner (RSA) 68 75 74
218 - Grant Muller (RSA) 72 71 75, Dion Fourie (RSA) 68 75 75, Jacques Blaauw (RSA) 66 74 78
219 - Bradford Vaughan (RSA) 71 73 75, Omar Sandys (RSA) 72 72 75, Brett Liddle (RSA) 74 68 77
222 - Nic Henning (RSA) 71 72 79
223 - Divan van den Heever (RSA) 67 75 81
