Du Plessis celebrates 21st birthday with Sishen win

Hennie du Plessis, on his 21^st birthday, clinched his maiden Sunshine Tour title in dramatic fashion at Sishen Golf Club when he defeated Ockie Strydom on the fourth play-off hole of the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament on Saturday.

“This is awesome,” said Du Plessis. “I couldn’t ask for a better way of doing it than a play-off. I mean, it really shows how much you have worked. You could see my expression on the last hole, how much it means to me. It’s a good birthday present to win a tournament.”

In a dramatic turn of events, Du Plessis, who won the 2015 Sunshine Tour Qualifying School, had to work hard for his maiden title as Strydom forced the play-off to a fourth extra hole before Du Plessis holed a 50-footer for birdie to claim victory.

“The first time, I think, was a little bit worse than the other times,” Du Plessis said of those play-off holes. “I mean, I knew exactly what to hit every time so it was sort of repeating whatever you’re doing. But yeah, the first one was very nerve-wracking because you make a mistake, you’re losing the tournament.”

The nerves were warranted because Strydom was playing solid golf and that was evident as he signed for five-under-67 in regulation, and in some windy conditions at Sishen. “Ockie played very well,” said du Plessis. “I mean, five-under in these conditions is absolutely brilliant golf. It was very gusty. You could see that some of the shots would go an extra five meters or 10 meters longer. Especially in the play-off.”

It was an unbelievable spectacle of golf as the pair produced some of the best golf shots this season, with Strydom pulling off a magnificent par save on the third play-off hole before the eventual winner sunk that 50-foot putt for birdie.

“It was awesome. It was actually a relief that it went in,” he said of the monster putt. “I thought I’d hit it too hard or something. I knew exactly the line from the previous play-off holes, so I knew I just had to get it to the hole.

“It was overall a great week. I played some of the best golf this week – in the first two rounds and even in the pro-am. It’s been awesome. I knew something good was going to happen,” said a happy Du Plessis.

With that win, he is looking forward to more success and taking part in the bigger summer events to come on the Sunshine Tour 2017-18 schedule.

Scores:

204 - Hennie du Plessis 66 66 72

204 - Ockie Strydom 70 67 67

210 - Callum Mowat 74 69 67, Ruan de Smidt 67 67 76

211 - MJ Viljoen 70 71 70, Doug McGuigan 70 70 71

212 - Justin Harding 70 70 72

214 - Lyle Rowe 72 71 71, Jaco Prinsloo 69 73 72, Jean Hugo 71 67 76

215 - Jake Redman 74 69 72, Breyten Meyer 71 72 72, Alex Haindl 74 71 70, Stephen Ferreira 71 69 75, Jacques Kruyswijk 72 68 75, Aubrey Beckley 68 71 76

216 - Andrew Curlewis 72 71 73, Desne Van Den Bergh 68 74 74, Tyrone Ryan 71 71 74, Louis de Jager 71 70 75, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 73 71

217 - Morne Buys 77 66 74, Hennie Otto 70 71 76, Combrinck Smit 73 68 76, Omar Sandys 73 72 72

218 - Pieter Kruger 73 71 74, Andrew van der Knaap 72 70 76, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 71 71 76, Chris Swanepoel 77 67 74, Riekus Nortje 77 68 73

219 - Colin Nel 72 71 76, Andre Nel 71 72 76, Theunis Spangenberg 72 72 75, Jacques Blaauw 68 76 75, JJ Senekal 72 73 74

220 - Antonio Rosado 71 73 76, Danie Van Niekerk 71 73 76, Ryan Cairns 75 70 75, Tyrone Ferreira 69 76 75, Irvin Mazibuko 69 76 75

221 - Jean-Paul Strydom 74 69 78, Keenan Davidse 76 69 76, Wallie Coetsee 74 71 76, Divan Gerber 71 74 76

222 - Dongkwan Kim 72 72 78, Chris Cannon 74 71 77, Jake Roos 72 73 77, Martin Rohwer 69 76 77

223 - Jonathan Agren 68 71 84

225 - Thriston Lawrence 71 73 81

229 - Luke Jerling 71 73 85

230 - Duane Keun 71 73 86

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