Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo in Harare
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SOUTH African professional golfer, Neil Schietekat put up a brilliant performance on the course to win his fourth Sunshine Tour title after being crowned the winner of the 2023 Zimbabwe Open Championship that ended yesterday at Royal Harare Golf Club.
Schietekat recorded a four shot victory to bag his maiden Zimbabwe Open Championship, which also became his first Sunshine Tour win in five years.
The South African finished with a tournament total of 11-under-par 277.
In the first round of the game, he shot five birdies for a round score of 67 and followed it up with three birdies for a round score of 69. In the third round on Saturday, the South African shot his best round of the tournament with six birdies for a score of 66. It was, however, not a good outing in the middle yesterday as he dropped three bogies with a score of 75 but managed to claim victory.
Tied for second place, Schietekat was followed by fellow countrymen, Jacques P De Villiers, Jaco Ahlers and Greek international, Peter Karmis who all finished with a score of 281 and a par score of -7.
After claiming the top prize, Schietekat said the experience from previous events helped him keep things going throughout. He added that the victory at Royal Harare is the biggest of his career so far.
“I have been coming here for probably nine or 10 years, it’s always been an event that I like to have won so I pulled through today (yesterday) so I’m really chuffed with myself. I have won three events and this is my fourth so I stuck to what I did when I did win tournaments, tough golf courses, just keep it in the moment and don’t think ahead of yourself, just hit shot by shot and I enjoyed every moment of it.
“This one is very special for me, it’s my biggest win . It’s a four round event and a lot of events that we have back home are three round events so this being a four round event it kind of shows myself that I can win four round events so it means a lot to me,” said Schietekat.
Kieran Vincent was the highest ranked Zimbabwe, tied for position six with South Africa, Danie Van Niekerk. They finished with a total of 285 and a par score of -3. In the first round, Vincent was on level par after a score of 72 and followed it up with a birdie in the second round after a score of 71 shots. In the third and fourth round, the high flying Zimbabwean shot scores of 70 and 72 to secure a top 10 finish.
The second highest ranked Zimbabwean was Biggie Chibvuri who was tied in position 18 with a total of 288 and level par. Chibvuri was tied with four more golfers, all from South Africa. A poor last round score saw Robson Chinoi drop six bogies as he shot 78 to finish with a total of 290 and a par score of over two. He finished in number 24.
The champion, Schietekat said he will be back in Zimbabwe for next year’s Championship and already looks forward to it. He bagged R348 700
FBC Zimbabwe Open leader board
Neil Schietekat – (-11) 277
Jacques P de Villiers – (-7) 281
Peter Karmis – (-7) 281
Jaco Ahlers – (-7) 281
Ryan Van Velzen – (-6) 282
Danie Van Niekerk – (-3) 285
Kieran Vincent – (-3) 285
Stephen Ferreira – (-2) 286
Ivan Verster – (-2) 286
James Mack – (-2) 286
Lyle Rowe – (-2) 286
Adam Breen – (-2) 286
Wynand Dingle – (-2) 286
Jonathan Broomhead – (-2) 286.
– @brandon_malvin.
Online Reporter