Cronje claims impressive first tour win at Killarney

Daniel Cronje said he was relieved to finally cross the line after he claimed his first Betway Big Easy Tour victory in the eighth event of the season held at Killarney Country Club this week.

Cronje had come close to winning a few other times on Tour this season, even losing out in a playoff during the campaign. He was not going to fall short in Killarney this week.

Despite weather-forced delays, Cronje was determined to etch his name in the list of winners this campaign, and this was week to do so. At four-under-par, Cronje was one stroke off the pace coming into the final round on Thursday and wasted little time in going about his business.

His bogey-free 32 on the front nine set the tone for Cronje and even as he made two bogeys on the way home, he was still able to make four birdies on that stretch to seal a final round of five-under 65 to get to eight-under for the week and win by three shots.

“This is by far the biggest win of my career,” said the 25-year-old London-born South African. “I feel relieved now because I’ve had a few opportunities to get it done and it gets frustrating when you have the game but things don’t go your way. I’m glad I got it done this week.

“It was a really tough week with the delays but it worked out well in the end.”

With his maiden victory, Cronje now moves to second on the Order of Merit and will look for a strong finish to the season as his pathway to the Sunshine Tour looks all but sealed. The top 12 players on the Order of Merit will earn their Sunshine Tour cards for the next season and Cronje will want to keep his place among the leading players this campaign.

The Betway Big Easy Tour is the Sunshine Tour’s feeder circuit and enjoys the support of the legendary Ernie Els, among other patrons.

SCORES

202 - Daniel Cronje 69 68 65

205 - Ronald Rugumayo 68 70 67, Dillon Germshuys 68 68 69

206 - Louis Liebenberg 73 66 67, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 68 68 70

208 - Oliver Goldhill 71 68 69, Travis Procter 67 71 70

209 - Therion Nel 73 67 69

210 - Shaunak Rama 72 68 70, Ulrich van den Berg 73 68 69, Jake Bolton 68 68 74

211 - Luke Joy 70 69 72, Kian Coetzer 72 69 70, Hannes Strooh 72 67 72, John Bele 68 71 72, Vaughn van Deventer 71 68 72, Miles Gray 71 70 70, Drikus Joubert 70 69 72

212 - Kael Strydom 69 71 72, Matthew Rushton 71 67 74, Franklin Manchest 69 72 71, Jeré Brits 69 72 71

213 - Tumelo Molloyi 68 71 74, Mitch Phigeland 72 68 73

214 - Trevor Mahoney 66 74 74, Ruben Van Der Berg 70 70 74

215 - Jonathan Ackerman 68 71 76, LB Boshoff 68 73 74

217 - Josh De Aguiar 67 71 79

218 - James Pennington 71 70 77

219 - Albert Venter 72 69 78

MISSED THE CUT:-

142 - Austin Cherichella 72 70, Tyron Davidowitz 71 71, Andrew McLardy 73 69, Ethan Gough 71 71, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 70 72, Jordan Duminy 68 74, Jacquin Hess 69 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 70 72, Tomas Gana 72 70

143 - Ryan Tipping 69 74, Matt Millar 73 70, David Amm 66 77, Rees Emanual 72 71, Shaheed Patel 73 70, Sentanio Minnie 74 69, Thabiso Ngcobo 73 70, Lyle Pedro 74 69, Umar Davids 74 69

144 - Thanda Mavundla 71 73, Nicko Venter 73 71, Philip Geerts 73 71, Brandon Gildenhuys 74 70, Liam Ross 72 72, Travis Ladner 70 74, Bradley De Beer 73 71

145 - Khanya Mkhize 68 77, James Wiltshire 70 75, Brandon Pieters 70 75, Wandre Snyman 71 74, Jarryd Govender 73 72

146 - Nelis De Bruin 72 74, Jordan Wessels 72 74, Johan Theron 72 74, Slade Pickering 73 73, Reece Mc Kain 73 73

147 - Jastice Mashego 74 73, Keagan Crosbie 74 73, Keelan Africa 77 70, Jacques Van der Merwe 73 74, Jaden Deltel 78 69, Leon Visser 77 70

148 - Joe Sullivan 75 73, Andre Van Zyl 74 74

149 - Regan Steyn 74 75, Hayden Garcia 74 75

150 - Kian Rose 79 71, Sean Paxton 75 75, Sean Howell 76 74

151 - Adam Breen 76 75, Irvin Mosate wa Mazibuko 75 76, Lwazi Gqira 78 73, Jabulane Mabilane 79 72, Brandon-Jude Rennie 76 75, Steven Le Roux 77 74, Tristan Leonard 77 74, Slenda Sithebe 75 76

152 - Carl Mwale 76 76

153 - Alphius Kelapile 77 76, John Palm 75 78, Matthew Dennis 75 78, Jason Froneman 78 75

154 - M-Jay Xaba 80 74

155 - Kyle Kistensamy 77 78, Tawriq Abrahams 78 77, Richard Kruger 76 79

157 - Austin Mashego 75 82

158 - Robert Mavundla 80 78

159 - Chandler Shaw 88 71

WDN - Merrick Bremner 80 WDN, Tiger Adams 75 WDN, Mark Maart 74 WDN, Allister de Kock 76 WDN, Joshua Koekemoer 73 WDN, Thabang Simon 71 WDN, Ricco Motsa 76 WDN, Wade Jacobs 73 WDN, Teboho Sefatsa WDN, Evance Vukeya RTD, Harry Konig RTD, Siyanda Mwandla 78 DSQ, Sipho Bujela 76 DSQ