Tshwane Open Day 4: First Tour win for Burmester

Final Leaderboard

(Gbr & Irl unless stated)

-18 Dean Burmester (SA)
-15 Jorge Campillo (Spn), Miko Korhonen (Fin)
-14 Peter Uihlein (USA)
-13 Alexander Bjork (Swe)
-12 Jacques Blaauw (SA), Paul Dunne, James Morrison

Day four report

South Africa's Dean Burmester stormed to his first European Tour title in the Tshwane Open as overnight joint leader Scott Jamieson suffered a nightmare final day.

Burmester carded a second consecutive 65 at Pretoria Country Club to finish 18 under par, three clear of both Finland's Mikko Korhonen and Spain's Jorge Campillo.

The 27-year-old began the final round a shot behind Jamieson and Sweden's Alexander Bjork, but surged to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on the first three holes and added three more on the front nine to reach the turn in 29.

Further birdies on the 10th, 12th and 14th meant the result was never in doubt and Burmester could afford the luxury of dropping shots on the 16th and 17th before sealing victory with a par on the last.

The win will move Burmester back into the world's top 100 when the rankings are updated on Monday and it also means South African players have won four of the five editions of the Tshwane Open.

"I can't believe it," said Burmester, who finished 11th in last week's Joburg Open after starting the final round one shot off the lead.

"I've had an amazing summer and last week was a frustrating day for me on Sunday, but then my family and everyone who supported me said: 'We're coming up next week so you better win in front of us' and I'm glad to have done that.

"I sharpened my teeth as a youngster on the Big Easy Tour here at home and I think I had five seconds in one year and then two years later I had four wins on the Sunshine Tour.

"It's gone from strength to strength and now I'm a European Tour winner and that sounds great."

In contrast, Jamieson bogeyed three of the first four holes and ran up a double bogey on the eighth on his way to a front nine of 39, 10 worse than Burmester.

The 33-year-old from Glasgow, whose sole European Tour title came in South Africa in 2013, then double-bogeyed the 12th and 13th on his way to a closing 78 and a tie for 22nd.

Collated final-round scores

(Gbr & Irl unless stated)

266 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 68 68 65 65

269 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 67 69 65 68, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 66 69 67 67

270 Peter Uihlein (USA) 69 70 65 66

271 Alexander Bjork (Swe) 65 67 68 71

272 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 69 68 70 65, Paul Dunne 73 68 65 66, James Morrison 67 66 70 69

274 Ben Eccles (Aus) 66 73 64 71, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 67 67 69 71, Justin Walters (Rsa) 66 68 71 69

275 Richie Ramsay 68 70 69 68, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 68 70 69 68, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 71 65 68

276 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 72 62 69 73, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 69 70 70 67, Gregory Havret (Fra) 65 70 70 71

277 Duncan Stewart 66 72 69 70, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 73 66 69 69, Romain Langasque (Fra) 68 74 68 67, Oliver Fisher 71 70 62 74

278 Marc Warren 68 70 67 73, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 71 70 68 69, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 69 70 65 74, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 72 70 66 70, Thomas Detry (Bel) 71 70 71 66, Scott Jamieson 67 65 68 78, Graeme Storm 68 70 73 67

279 Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 71 70 68 70, Pep Angles (Spa) 68 74 71 66, Lee Slattery 71 67 71 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 70 69 69, Jamie Donaldson 70 67 72 70, Jordan Smith 69 68 70 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 71 69 73 66, Soomin Lee (Kor) 68 69 72 70

280 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 71 70 73 66, Anthony Michael (Rsa) 75 65 71 69, Matthew Southgate 67 71 71 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 70 75 66, Paul Peterson (USA) 70 72 68 70, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 69 68 72, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 71 68 69 72, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 68 71 70 71

281 Marcus Armitage 68 72 73 68, Steve Webster 70 67 70 74, Renato Paratore (Ita) 73 69 70 69, Anthony Wall 70 72 69 70, Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 72 67 66 76, Robert Rock 69 72 70 70, David Drysdale 72 68 69 72, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 72 68 68 73, Ross McGowan 69 69 68 75, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 70 70 69, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 70 72 66 73

282 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 69 70 72, Justin Hicks (USA) 68 73 68 73, Damien Perrier (Fra) 69 73 72 68, David Horsey 70 69 71 72, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 72 67 71 72, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 70 71 76 65

283 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 69 72 73 69, Daniel Brooks 68 74 67 74, Chris Hanson 68 71 72 72, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 65 72 74 72, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 70 72 67 74, Simon Dyson 68 73 68 74

284 Titch Moore (Rsa) 71 69 70 74, Daniel Im (USA) 74 67 68 75, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 69 69 70 76

285 Hennie Du Plessis (Rsa) 70 70 70 75, Sam Walker 71 71 69 74, Ruan De Smidt (Rsa) 70 72 72 71, Keenan Davidse (Rsa) 68 74 73 70, Jaco Prinsloo (Rsa) 69 73 69 74

286 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 67 68 75 76, Colin Nel (Rsa) 71 71 72 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 73 75 69

287 Lyle Rowe (Rsa) 70 72 73 72, Chris Paisley 70 68 73 76

290 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 70 73 76

Day three report

Scott Jamieson and Sweden's Alexander Bjork remain locked together at the top of the leaderboard heading into the final round of the Tswhane Open.

The duo began day three tied for the lead and both carded rounds of 68 at Pretoria Country Club to reach 13 under par - a shot ahead of local favourite Dean Burmester and Spain's Jorge Campillo.

Finland's Mikko Korhonen is alone in fifth place on 11 under, with the English duo of Oliver Fisher and James Morrison part of a five-strong group a stroke further back.

Jamieson has spent the last two seasons battling to retain his playing privileges, finishing 106th and 107th in the Race to Dubai, but won his sole European Tour title in South Africa at the rain-shortened Nelson Mandela Championship in 2013.

"I'm in a great position to go out and try and win the tournament (on Sunday)," the 33-year-old from Glasgow said after a round containing five birdies and two bogeys.

"Yet again I was really good tee to green but I felt as if I left quite a few out there on the greens. I wasn't at my best there but (Sunday's) another day and I have a chance of winning."

Swedish rookie Bjork, who is playing in just his ninth European Tour event, birdied his first two holes to open up a two-shot advantage and also picked up shots on the seventh and 12th.

However, bogeys on the 13th and 15th allowed the chasing pack to close the gap, with Burmester making birdies on the 17th and 18th and Campillo doing even better with a birdie-birdie-eagle finish.

"I'm very pleased with my position," Bjork said. "It was a solid round. I got off to a very good start with two straight birdies. Things were a little bit worse in the middle of the round but I finished with a good birdie on 18, so I'm looking forward to (Sunday).

"I've been in this position a few times on the Challenge Tour, but it's bigger here - more people, more television and everything - so I'm interested to see how I handle it (on Sunday). It's going to be a lot of fun to play."

Fisher, who only made the halfway cut with a shot to spare, produced the round of the day with nine birdies and no bogeys in a superb 62, which lifted him 43 places up the leaderboard. 

Day two report

Scotland's Scott Jamieson and Sweden's Alexander Bjork share the lead at the halfway stage of the Tshwane Open, but the round of the day belonged to home favourite Thomas Aiken.

Aiken had an outside chance of recording the first 59 on the European Tour when he played his opening 15 holes at Pretoria Country Club in nine under par, meaning he needed to birdie the last three to break the magical 60 barrier.

A bogey on the seventh, his 16th, ended Aiken's chances of making history, but he bounced back with a 10th birdie of the day on the next on his way to a 62, 10 shots better than his first round.

"You don't get too many opportunities in your career to shoot one (a 59)," Aiken said. "You get close now and then.

"I did my best to try and make a few birdies when I had the opportunity coming in and it just didn't happen. It just shows that when you force issues, it just doesn't happen. But one has to give it a try."

Aiken joined fellow South Africans Justin Walters and Peter Karmis on eight under par, two shots behind Jamieson and Bjork, who carded rounds of 65 and 67 respectively.

Jamieson has spent the last two seasons battling to retain his playing privileges, finishing 106th and 107th in the Race to Dubai, but won his sole European Tour title in South Africa at the rain-shortened Nelson Mandela Championship in 2013.

"It was very solid again from tee to green like (Thursday)," the 33-year-old from Glasgow said. "Delighted with that. I struggled a bit last week from tee to green but it seems to have clicked this week. Hopefully I can hole a few more putts this weekend.

"The rough out there is pretty extreme but there's not a great deal of drivers (off the tee) which is probably suiting me right now because I struggled last week with my driver.

"That's kind of been taken out of my hands a little bit and I felt as though the rest of my game was pretty good."

England's James Morrison was a shot off the lead on nine under thanks to a second round of 66 containing six birdies in his last 12 holes.

Day one report

South Africa's Haydn Porteous believes he has emerged from "a dark place" after claiming a share of the lead after the opening round of the Tshwane Open.

Porteous carded an opening 65 at Pretoria Country Club to join Sweden's Alexander Bjork and France's Gregory Havret on six under par, with the top 65 separated by just five shots on a congested leaderboard.

The 22-year-old qualified for the Open Championship last year by winning the Joburg Open and went on to finish 30th at Royal Troon, but he made just one more cut during the rest of the season and began his 2017 campaign with six missed cuts in a row.

Porteous stopped the rot in Malaysia and was 23rd in the defence of his Joburg Open title last week, results which suggest he is finally reaping the benefits of swing changes aimed at becoming more consistent.

"It's something that I have been really searching for for the last few months," Porteous said after six birdies and no bogeys in a flawless round. "I was in a dark place with my golf.

"To come back in my home country and in my home province and start to find my golf swing and really start to get some good scores under the belt is something I have really needed for a long time.

"And it feels good."

Havret, who was second to Graeme McDowell in the 2010 US Open and who has not won on the European Tour since 2008, raced to the turn in 29 before carding two bogeys and two birdies on the back nine. 

"I'm obviously very pleased," the 40-year-old said. "I was pretty hot on the front nine. The back nine was a bit tougher and I didn't play that great, but I had a couple of good wedges on 14 and 17.

"They saved me a bit for that back nine.

"With eight birdies overall, my game was quite hot today."

England's Toby Tree, Scotland's Duncan Stewart, Australian Ben Eccles, Finn Mikko Korhonen and South African Justin Walters were all a shot off the lead on five under.

Pretoria Country Club member and 2015 champion George Coetzee was two shots further back after a 68 containing seven birdies and two double bogeys.