Open qualifiers from SA decided
18 January 2007
Four Sunshine Tour players have clinched their places at the 2007 Open Championship following two rounds of qualifying at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. It took low scoring and a course record for one of the players to book their places at Carnoustie.
When the 'all grown-up version' of Doug McGuigan wrapped his arms around the Claret Jug at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington after securing his place, nothing but the real deal, the 2007 Open title, may have left a wider smile.
He did it at Atlantic Beach in 2005. Two years later he has done it again.
Shared spotlight
The fact that he was sharing the spotlight with Brazilian Adilson Da Silva, did not bother McGuigan in the least, but he did admit that he would have
preferred not to share the first place spoils worth £1 750 (around R24 500).
"R25k would have been grand, but at least our flights are both covered," said a smiling McGuigan as he reluctantly let go of golf's most coveted piece of silverware to join the press.
First in the clubhouse at 10-under-par 134 in the final round of the International Final Qualifier Africa, meant that the South African-born Scot was the first player to book his berth at the 2007 Open Championship in July.
A little history
McGuigan and Adilson Da Silva, both regulars on the Sunshine Tour, shot matching rounds of 66 and 68 to tie for the lead, while 14-time Sunshine Tour winner Desvonde Botes wrote a little history of his own at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington on his way to claiming the third spot.
In 1991, Botes won the SA Amateur Championship at the East Course with three-and-one victory over Barry Sundelson, becoming the youngest winner of the Match Play
at the age of 16.
Sixteen years later, after breaking par for the first time at the West course, Botes took only 16 holes to tear up the track, with 11 birdies against a lone bogey for a course record 62.
Record round
His score, one better than Andrew McLardy's six-day record set during last week's Joburg Open, took his overall score to nine-under and kept the hopes alive for a handful of players at eight-under-par to force a sudden death play-off.
Someone, though, should have been paying attention to Australian challenger, Terry Pilkadaris.
After having a look-see at the leaderboard, he birdied 14 and 15, then he holed a hallelujah-putt for eagle at the last, for a final round 68 to tie Botes for the third spot at nine-under.
The feisty Aussie also claimed rookie honours as the only player in the leading quartet not to have teed it up in an Open before.
Rich vein of form
McGuigan,
having missed the cut in the Alfred Dunhill and SAA Open Championships, hit a rich vein of form in the Joburg Open, where he tied for eighth alongside Pilkadaris on Sunday.
The 36-year-old two-time Sunshine Tour winner, who found himself in a three-way tie for the first round lead with Da Silva and young gun, Tyrone van Aswegen, parred the first, then flew a monster three-iron from 260 meters, leaving himself a formality six-footer for eagle.
But luck deserted him almost immediately.
After a good par-save at the third, he left it behind a tree off the tee at the fourth, having to hook out and three-putted, then pulled his tee-shot at the fifth, leaving it well short of the green.
Patience tested
McGuigan's patience was tested, but it held up as he settled down to a string of pars to turn in 36.
On the back nine, he picked up the pace, rattling off birdies on 12, 13, 15 and 17, and he could have taken the outright title on
the eighteenth, but was let down by a bad tee shot that found the wrong side of the rising mound on the fairway, effectively ruining his chances of an eagle or birdie at the final hole.
McGuigan said afterwards that some of his inspiration to qualify came from a letter in the post five weeks ago, where he received a signed photo of the legendary Jack Nicklaus at St Andrews after his final appearance at the Open.
Courage
"Just looking at that picture, it gave me the courage to fight for the spot," he said afterwards, "It doesn't matter how many times you go there, you are always in awe when you get there."
McGuigan was at the Open in 2005, a year where he missed the cut and the same year that Nicklaus retired.
A four-time Dunhill Links competitor at Carnoustie, McGuigan hopes to keep his form alive until The Open.
"I'm going over to Carnoustie a little wiser and a little older," he said. "But in the greater scheme of
things, to be standing on the driving range with guys like Tiger Woods, Chris Dimarco and Jim Furyk is an overwhelming experience.
The precision of a surgeon
"I hope my Dunhill Links experience will do me well, because it a difficult course that requires the accuracy and precision of a surgeon. The greens alone at Carnoustie produce more tears than a funeral."
Among the players on eight-under who failed to qualify were joint first-round leader, Van Aswegen (70), Titch Moore (65), Vaughn Groenewald (68), Dion Fourie (68) and Zimbabwe's Mike Lamb, who returned a 68.
Defending champion Warren Abery shot a final round 73 to tie for thirty-eighth.
Source: Sunshine Tour
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