South Africa’s Darren Fichardt bagged the fifth European Tour victory of his career when winning the weather-affected Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.
The 41 year old from North Gauteng fired a birdie at the last in his third and final round to post a four-under-par 68 and finish one shot clear of nearest challengers Stuart Manley and Paul Waring.
Manley had set the clubhouse target on 14 under par courtesy of a third-successive round of 67, with Waring producing a closing 69 to join him in a share of second place.
The tournament was reduced to 54 holes after thunder, lightning and subsequent course flooding forced play to be abandoned before the leaders had started their third rounds on Saturday afternoon. There was another two-hour delay before play resumed on Sunday morning, but Fichardt, who began his third round tied at the top of the leaderboard alongside Waring, started brightly when he finally teed off, notching birdies at the first, sixth and eighth to get to 14 under.
He then rolled in a six-foot birdie putt at the 12th to join Jacques Kruyswijk at the top of the leaderboard, but after his countryman carded a disappointing double bogey at the 14th, Fichardt saved par at the same hole to sit two shots clear of his nearest challengers.
His lead was cut to a single stroke when Waring and Manley picked up shots at the 16th and 18th respectively. And he dropped into a share of the lead when he carded his only bogey of the day at the 17th, after narrowly missing his tricky par putt.
But Fichardt bounced back with a close-range birdie at the last to return to 15 under and secure victory, and the €187,000 first prize.
He said: “The form I have been having the last couple of months has been horrendous, but I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to play as many tournaments as I can and just get my game right. And it worked out. It’s just nice to see hard work paying off.”
The top three players all secured spots in this summer’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.