Cannon fires to victory in Kempton Park
[Thursday, May 25, 2017 15:30:48]England’s Chris Cannon tasted victory for the first time on the Big Easy Tour when he signed for 12-under-par 132 to win the Big Easy Tour Kempton Park event by two strokes on Thursday.
“Yes, I’m very pleased to have got the job done. Very pleased with the win here,” said Cannon, adding, “I feel like I have been moving in the right direction and my play is getting better and better. So I am looking forward to Zambia (Mopani/Redpath Zambia Open) next week.”
The 30-year-old has not had a great start to the new season and has failed to make the cut in his first two starts in Zimbabwe and Zambia. He then failed to qualify for the Investec Royal Swazi open a few weeks ago but has bounced back in style on the Sunshine Tour’s development tour. Round one saw him sign for five-under-par 67, while a much improved showing in Kempton Park delivered a low seven-under 65 to win the title.
He says most aspects of his game are on song and that brings confidence to his game. “I think everything has been improving. I mean, I have certainly been putting well and my wedge shots have been much better as well this week,” he said. “So, it’s just a general overall improvement and also mentally, I have been very focused.”
Pieter Kruger, the former champion, had to make do with a share of second spot with overnight leader, Jacques P de Villiers, on 10-under-par. He will feel that shot he dropped on that par-four 15th could have secured him a successful title defence but that bogey spoilt what could have been a perfect round for him.
Riekus Nortje took fourth place on nine-under-par 135 while sharing fifth was Wynand Dingle, Teagan Moore and Combrinck Smit on eight-under 136. The top 10 was completed by Botswana’s Stuart Smith, American Zack Byrd, Chilean Antonio Costa and member of the Gary Player Class of 2017-18 Irvin Mazibuko, who all finished on seven-under par.
Scores:
132 - Chris Cannon 67 65
134 - Pieter Kruger 67 67, Jacques P de Villiers 67 67
135 - Riekus Nortje 68 67
136 - Wynand Dingle 71 65, Teagan Moore 67 69, Combrinck Smit 67 69
137 - Stuart Smith 72 65, Zack Byrd 71 66, Antonio Costa 70 67, Irvin Mazibuko 67 70
138 - David McIntyre 73 65, Etienne Bond 71 67, Francois Coetzee 69 69, Maritz Wessels 69 69, Anton Haig 69 69, Wayne Stroebel 67 71
139 - Bradford Vaughan 72 67, N.J. Arnoldi 71 68, Darin de Smidt 71 68, Siphiwe Siphayi 70 69, Jonathan Waschefort 69 70, Greg Bentley 69 70, Allister de Kock 68 71
140 - Andre Cruse 72 68, Tyrone Ryan 71 69, Callie Swart 70 70, Desne Van Den Bergh 68 72
141 - Andi Dill 72 69, Matias Calderon 73 68, Jacquin Hess 71 70, Gerard du Plooy 70 71
142 - Dwayne Basson 72 70, Bennie van der Merwe 72 70, Russel Franz 71 71, Daniel Hammond 73 69, Neal Herman 73 69, Simon Kruger 69 73, Neezy Thubisi 69 73
143 - PH McIntyre 72 71, Antonio Rosado 71 72, Cameron Esau 71 72, Phumlani Maluka 71 72, Gert Myburgh 71 72, Bryn Flanagan 71 72, Morne Buys 75 68
144 - Altaaf Bux 73 71, Duane Keun 74 70, Bryce Bibby 74 70, Bryandrew Roelofsz 75 69, Drikus van der Walt 75 69
145 - Herman Loubser 71 74, Thabang Simon 71 74, Conway Kunneke 70 75
146 - Arthur Horne 73 73, Quintin Wilsnach 73 73, Teboho Sefatsa 73 73, Sipho Bujela 73 73, Jason Smith 71 75, Paul de Beer 74 72, TB Mathebula 77 69
147 - Coert Groenewald 72 75, Tyron McComb 73 74, Brett Liddle 73 74, Kenneth Dube 74 73, John Mc Clean 70 77, Jeff Inglis 78 69
148 - Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 73 75
149 - Bryce McCabe 72 77, Dylan Docherty 74 75, Adriel Poonan 77 72
150 - Jaco Mouton 73 77, Aubrey Beckley 76 74, Jeff Hopkins 77 73, Divan Gerber 78 72
151 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 75 76, Richie O'Donovan 77 74
152 - Damian Naicker 73 79, Lincon Cele 75 77, Gitesh Maharaj 77 75
153 - Gideon Pienaar 73 80
154 - Omar Sandys 78 76
156 - Michael Dreyer 77 79
157 - Songz Sonamzi 82 75
161 - Shane Granger 78 83
WDN - Sean Bradley 79 WDN
RTD - Jabulane Mabilane 77 RTD
DSQ - George Brown 79 DSQ