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SA’S LATEST WINNER: You can’t Purchase talent like this

golf22 October 2025 07:16
By:Grant Winter
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Warwick Purchase © X (@Sunshine_Tour )

Every rookie golf professional will ask questions like: “Am I good enough? Do I belong, do I belong on tour”?

And the relief was palpable for Warwick Purchase after he won the Sunshine Tour’s R2.5-million Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday. “Now I do think I belong and I'm proud of myself. Yes, it’s only my first year on the Sunshine Tour and I guess you could say I’m a small fish in a big pond but I do believe I’m good enough to be out here," he said.

The Benoni Country Club golfer wasn’t just good enough. He was sensational. The 28 strokes with which he blitzed the front nine in the third round will be etched in his memory forever. After pars at the first two holes, he went birdie 3, birdie 4, birdie 2, eagle 3 (where he holed a bunker shot at the par-5), birdie 3, birdie 2 and birdie 3. That’s eight-under-par through seven holes. One of the best nine-hole loops in Sunshine Tour history.

Besides the eagle, his seven-iron to two feet against the wind at the 201m par-3 eighth was exceptional. “But,” insisted caddie Charlie Msiza, “Warwick’s best shot was his bullet three-iron from 227m out to the heart of the green to set up birdie at the par-5 fourth hole.”

POWERPLAY

A seven-iron that flies over 200m is indicative of a power hitter and Purchase certainly fits into this category. A 400-yard drive? No problem for this guy who does indeed fire bullets long and straight off the tee.

Purchase didn’t have much of an amateur career but he won twice on the Big Easy development tour last year and topped that tour’s Order of Merit to earn a card for the Sunshine Tour.

For the record, he won on 19-under-par 269 following rounds of 66, 71, 62 and 70, and can look forward to a busy summer on the Sunshine Tour with some good money up for grabs.

Ever-smiling Kyle Barker and Argentina’s Luis Carrera tied for second on Sunday on 271.

Warwick's two biggest fans at Glendower were his mother Jenny and aunt Renee, watching every shot of his superb victory. They're a happy family right now.

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