JOHANNESBURG, 12 October 2008 - Doug McGuigan ended a two-year title drought with a narrow one-shot defeat over Jaco van Zyl at the inaugural BMG Classic at Ebotse Golf and Country Club.
The popular Boksburg based pro put the seal on a flawless round when he holed a monster 25-meter putt for eagle at the 18th to take the clubhouse lead with a final round 68.
After an unexpected bogey at the 15th, the pressure was on tournament leader Van Zyl to birdie at least one of the finishing holes to tie McGuigan and force a play-off.
Having failed to take advantage at the 16th and 17th, Van Zyl faced a 20-meter birdie putt at the last but again, the putter failed to cooperate.
He had to settle for the runner-up spot, one shot shy of the winner’s 10-under 54-hole aggregate of 206.
Cape Town’s Christiaan Basson carded a 69 to finish alone in third, one shot behind Van Zyl, while Jbe’ Kruger (71), Ulrich van den Berg (69), Suncoast Classic winner Jake Roos (68) and Brazil’s Adilson da Silva (71) shared fourth on seven-under 209.
When all was said and done it was McGuigan's consistent golf that landed him the R79 250 winner's cheque and his first title since winning the 2007 Telkom PGA Pro-Am. He described this triumph as the best of his three Sunshine Tour victories.
“I just wanted to get the ball onto the edge of the green, but it worked out my way when the ball landed in the middle of the green” said McGuigan. “This was one of the best up and downs in my career and I’m privileged to come out as the BMG Classic winner on a course, which is my new home”
“I took a light-blue tee out my bag in honour of the Blue Bull victory yesterday and the luck continued with me today.”
Things worked out for McGuigan but spun completely out of kilter for Da Silva, who was leading the tournament at nine-under at the ninth.
The Brazilian and his playing partner, Lindani Ndwandwe, played each other’s balls and incurred a two-stroke penalty each. Both returned to the area where the infringement occurred, but played from incorrect lies and was penalized a further two shots each.
Having signed for eights at the par-4 ninth, Da Silva did well to recover for a joint third finish.
Overnight leader Divan van den Heever, who shot to the lead with a third round 65, fell from the pace with a dismal 78 and tied for 17th.
McGuigan hopes to take his winning form to the Metmar Highveld Classic next week when the longest running Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour tees off under new sponsorship at the Witbank Golf Club from 17-19 October 2008.
GOLF-SUNSHINE TOUR-BMG Classic-FINAL RESULT
Herewith the final result from the R500,000 BMG Classic played on Sunday, 12 October 2008 at the Ebotse Golf and Country Club, Gauteng. All competitors RSA unless otherwise indicated:
206 - Doug McGuigan 68 70 68
207 - Jaco Van Zyl 67 70 70
208 - Christiaan Basson 70 69 69
209 - Jake Roos 68 73 68, Ulrich van den Berg 69 71 69, Adilson da Silva (BRA) 71 67 71, Jbe' Kruger 67 71 71
210 - Brandon Pieters 72 68 70, Titch Moore 70 67 73
211 - George Coetzee 74 70 67, Louis de Jager 72 70 69, Dean Lambert 74 66 71
212 - Chris Williams 68 75 69, Prinavin Nelson 75 66 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 71 68 73, Richard Kemp (ENG) 69 69 74
213 - Wynand Dingle 71 72 70, Gerlou Roux 68 75 70, Darren Fichardt 68 73 72, Tyrone Ferreira 72 68 73, Tongo Charamba (ZIM) 73 73 67, Omar Sandys 67 73 73, Divan van den Heever 70 65 78
214 - Bradford Vaughan 69 74 71, Alan Michell 69 75 70, Thabang Simon 69 75 70, Henk Alberts 71 71 72, Jaco Ahlers 73 69 72, Bradley Davison 76 65 73
215 - Desvonde Botes 76 67 72, Albert Pistorius 71 71 73, Bennie van der Merwe 72 69 74
216 - Attie Schwartzel 73 70 73, Brett Liddle 71 72 73, Theunis Spangenberg 72 70 74, Nemanja Savic (SER) 71 74 71, Michiel Bothma 69 72 75, Callie Swart 72 74 70, Ross Wellington 69 78 69
217 - David Hewan 72 71 74, Callie Burger 71 72 74, Neil Schietekat 73 71 73, Rossouw Loubser 75 70 72, Johan Etsebeth 74 71 72, Shaun Ellis 74 71 72, Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 70 75 72, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 76 70 71, Wallie Coetsee 71 69 77, Shaun Norris 71 76 70, Dion Fourie 67 80 70
218 - Michael Green 71 72 75, Reggie Adams 72 72 74, Ryan Tipping 73 69 76, Stuart Clark (WAL) 72 70 76, Bafana Hlophe 72 74 72, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 75 71 72, Eugen Marugi 73 73 72
219 - Steve van Vuuren 70 74 75, Heinrich Bruiners 73 74 72
220 - Vaughn Groenewald 72 74 74, Werner Geyer 75 72 73
221 - Grant Veenstra 75 72 74, Ian Hutchings 68 79 74
222 - Clifford Howes 74 71 77, Steve Basson 74 71 77
223 - Josh Cunliffe 74 71 78
224 - Don Black 72 75 77
225 - Nico van Rensburg 76 71 78
226 - Andrew Curlewis 76 68 82
229 - Tsietsi Chabangu 71 74 84
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