Wilco Nienaber produced the most dominant performance of his career as he won his second NTT DATA Pro-Am title by seven strokes at Fancourt on Sunday.
Nienaber closed out a wire-to-wire victory that began with a 60 in the first round and ended with a 70 on the Montagu course on Sunday for a winning score of 27-under par.
Jean-Paul Strydom finished second on 20-under with a closing 66.
It was an emotional day for Nienaber, who paid tribute to his ill grandfather after his win.
“It’s not going well with my grandfather. He’s currently in a step down facility and has been diagnosed with cancer. It’s been a tough time because we are a tight family. I went and saw him on Monday before this tournament. He has played a big role in my career. He was always there and has always loved his sport. He would’ve been here today if he could’ve been,” said Nienaber.
With his victory Nienaber joins an exclusive list of only four players to have won this title twice in its 30-year history, including Nick Price, Darren Fichardt and Oliver Bekker.
It was a victory made even sweeter by the fact that, unlike his last win in this event which came amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, he could have his family with him to celebrate.
“It’s very cool to have them all here. This was a good performance. I wanted to get to 30-under par but I’m proud of myself,” he said.
This was arguably Nienaber’s finest exhibition of golf considering the hold he had on this tournament from day one and the fact that he came through 72 holes with only one bogey.
“It’s awesome. You dream of it. It’s nice to have a big lead like I did but you can’t really ever settle. It’s always in the back of your mind to not make a mistake. It’s nice to win early in the year though.”
Scores
262 - Wilco Nienaber 60 66 66 70
269 - Jean-Paul Strydom 70 68 65 66
271 - Per Langfors 70 64 68 69, Sam Jones 68 65 69 69, Jacques Blaauw 63 66 69 73
272 - JC Ritchie 66 70 70 66, Eddie Pepperell 63 72 70 67, Jamie Rutherford 72 62 70 68
273 - Ryan Lumsden 68 69 68 68, Daniel van Tonder 68 68 72 65, Daniel Young 69 68 67 69
274 - Hennie O'Kennedy 68 70 68 68, Martin Rohwer 71 69 67 67, Gregorio De Leo 67 69 69 69
275 - Bryce Easton 69 69 68 69, Santiago Tarrio 68 71 67 69, Gerhard Pepler 70 68 68 69, Kyle Barker 65 67 68 75
276 - Lars van Meijel 70 71 69 66, Herman Loubser 69 70 67 70, Max Kennedy 67 69 70 70, Christoffer Bring 65 70 72 69, Martin Vorster 67 71 70 68
277 - John Axelsen 71 69 70 67, Brandon Meads 69 73 68 67, Luke Brown 67 73 66 71, Jacques Kruyswijk 71 68 68 70, Jovan Rebula 66 67 72 72, Maximilian Steinlechner 69 70 68 70
278 - Quim Vidal 75 65 71 67, Stefano Mazzoli 66 69 73 70
279 - Casey Jarvis 72 68 70 69, Jean Hugo 68 72 71 68, Christiaan Burke 75 69 66 69, Dylan Naidoo 70 74 67 68, George Bloor 72 69 66 72, Filippo Celli 68 70 67 74, Yurav Premlall 72 67 69 71, Felix Mory 69 65 73 72, MJ Viljoen 70 66 72 71, Matthis Besard 70 69 69 71
280 - Victor Pastor 74 69 67 70, Lucas Vacarisas 67 70 73 70, Gregor Graham 74 71 66 69, Rourke van der Spuy 71 72 68 69, Michael Hollick 73 67 71 69, Daan Huizing 69 69 71 71, Jonathan Caldwell 71 69 68 72, Jonathan Broomhead 69 73 67 71
281 - Luke Jerling 66 74 71 70, Aron Zemmer 74 66 69 72, Neil Schietekat 71 67 69 74, Pieter Moolman 71 68 69 73, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 70 70 68 73, Lee Slattery 69 67 74 71, Euan Walker 72 67 70 72, Lyle Rowe 67 71 71 72
282 - Chris Paisley 71 68 71 72, Deon Germishuys 68 71 71 72, Renato Paratore 67 77 66 72
283 - Tomas Gouveia 68 69 73 73, Callan Barrow 69 72 70 72, Will Enefer 71 66 74 72
284 - Malcolm Mitchell 66 69 71 78, Robin Petersson 73 68 65 78
285 - Rupert Kaminski 69 69 73 74
286 - Nikhil Rama 71 66 73 76, Sam Locke 69 68 73 76, Dermot Mcelroy 70 69 72 75
289 - George Coetzee 68 70 72 79
290 - Matthew Spacey 69 71 71 79
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