KwaZulu-Natal amateur and one of TuksGolf's CEG Clients, Louis Albertse sealed a sensational maiden victory in just his third start on the IGT Challenge Tour this season after a dramatic comeback in the final round of the Wingate Challenge on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old from Dundee fired nine birdies to close out a two-stroke victory with a six-under-par 66 at Wingate Park Country Club.

Albertse trailed by five going into the final round, but he vaulted into contention with a string of four birdies from the sixth hole and never wavered over a flawless back nine for his breakthrough win on seven under par 209 on the country’s premier golf development circuit.

“I have shot some low rounds at Wingate Park before and I made a lot of birdies in the first two rounds, so I knew I could go low if I kept a clean card,” said the HPC Golf Academy player. “But I knew it would take a pretty special round to win.”

Albertse birdied the par five second, but he just as soon lost the advantage with a double bogey at four and a bogey at the fifth.

“I snap-hooked my tee shot at the fourth into some trees and I had no shot,” Albertse said. “All I could do was chip out. I left my third shot short of the green, chipped and two-putted for six. At five, I short-sided myself in the bunker and didn’t up-and-down to save par. I knew I had a lot of holes left, so I pushed the restart button.

“I hit my second to 25 feet left of the pin at six. I got the line and the pace perfect and watching the ball disappear down the hole was a definitely a huge confidence booster.”

The birdie at six also launched a nice little run for Albertse, who sunk a 15-foot left-to-right breaker at seven. He was one of only four players to birdie the tough par three eighths on the final day.

“The hole was right into the wind and the pin was tucked on a slope,” he said. “I had 175 metres to the flag and I hit a 7-iron to 20 feet short of the pin. The ball broke eight feet before it zeroed in on the hole.

“I boxed another right-to-left breaker at nine for my fourth birdie in a row. The putter was definitely key to my win. I trusted myself, committed to the putts and made positive strokes.”

Albertse holed his trap-shot at 11 for birdie and picked up another gain at the par-five 13th before he closed with a brace of gains at last two holes.

“I’m really pleased that I was able to regroup after the train smash early in the round and really play the round shot-for-shot,” he said.

“It’s one of the things you learn here on the IGT Challenge Tour. It’s quite different to the amateur circuit, because of the mixture of professionals and amateurs. With the boards around the course and the scoring, you get a real taste of the pro ranks.

“The circuit is very competitive and it teaches you how to learn how to handle the nerves. The set-up was really tough, but I trusted myself and my game out there. I guess it’s true what they say; once you’ve won the first one, you want more because I can’t wait for the next event.”

Local amateur JP Cooper and Pretoria rookie Paul Boshoff both led the field and had the chance to close out victories, but too many mistakes on the back nine saw the pair tie for second after carding respective rounds of 70 and 72.

 
Final Result
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs are indicated as AMA:

209 - Louis Albertse AMA 71 72 66

211 – JP Cooper AMA 71 70 70, Paul Boshoff 68 71 72

213 - Peetie van der Merwe AMA 75 67 71

214 - Michael Kok AMA 73 68 73

215 - Kyle Barker 67 71 77

217 - Dean Martin AMA 71 74 72

218 - Ruan Korb 69 74 75

219 - Callum Mowat 73 71 75, Pieter Moolman 72 71 76, Theunis Bezuidenhout AMA 73 69 77

220 - Ivanna Samu 74 72 74

221 - Bryce Myburgh 75 74 72, Phillip Kruse AMA 70 75 76

222 - Ruan Groenewald AMA 75 72 75, Matthew Vogel 70 77 75, Leon Vorster AMA 71 75 76, Tertius van den Berg 75 74 73, Mpho Mafishe 75 71 76

223 - Logan Lockwood AMA (USA) 70 78 75, Quintin Crause 74 69 80

224 - Dylan Kok AMA 78 75 71

225 - Divan Marais 74 75 76, Jan-Louis Nel AMA 75 71 79, Albert Visser 80 71 74

226 - Deon Bredenkamp 82 68 76

227 - David Mofokeng (LSO) 75 73 79

228 - Marcus Smal AMA 75 74 79, Xander Basson AMA 77 72 79

229 - Tristan Brice AMA 74 79 76

230 - Eric Nel AMA 75 73 82, Ruhan van Dijk AMA 80 70 80, Liam Cloete AMA 76 78 76, Angus Ellis-Cole AMA 76 79 75

231 - Thabi Ngcobo 76 78 77, Arno Pretorius AMA 77 77 77

232 - Haydn Driver AMA 79 73 80, Mae Cornforth 79 75 78, Patrick Thompson 76 78 78, Rudolph van de Venter AMA 81 75 76

233 - Bradley Diggeden AMA 76 80 77

234 - Etienne Janse Van Rensburg AMA 77 76 81, Milton Maloon AMA 79 75 80, WM Coetzee AMA 79 75 80

236 - Keanu Pestana AMA 79 76 81, Alex Krebs AMA 75 81 80

238 - Christopher de Beer AMA 79 75 84, Jaco Linde AMA 78 78 82

242 - Cameron Gunning 76 80 86