Tommy Fleetwood held on to his crown on the Nedbank Golf Problem after profitable an exhilarating battle with Ryan Fox down the stretch on the Gary Participant Nation Membership in South Africa.
The Englishman sealed his sixth DP World Tour victory three years after he final lifted the trophy in Solar Metropolis – with the occasion returning for the primary time since 2019 because of the pandemic.
Fleetwood shot a five-under-par 67 to complete on 11 below, one forward of New Zealand’s Fox, who would have leapfrogged Rory Mcllroy on the prime of the DP World Tour rankings with a victory.
Fleetwood and Fox went into the ultimate spherical three pictures behind Rasmus Højgaard and Thomas Detry and the in a single day leaders had solely managed 5 holes when play was suspended as a consequence of lightning within the space. Shortly after the restart, Højgaard went bogey-bogey-double bogey from the seventh, and Fleetwood and Shubhankar Sharma took benefit, transferring to 10 below with birdies on the par-five ninth. Sharma posted one other on the tenth whereas Fleetwood might solely par as Fox joined the celebration.
Fox had began with six straight pars then birdied 4 in a row. He left himself round eight ft on the seventh and eighth, was unfortunate with a protracted eagle putt on the ninth earlier than tapping in, after which holed an 11-footer on the tenth.
Fleetwood slipped again after a bogey on the twelfth however a second of magic on the 14th turned issues again in his favour. He was within the bunker left of the par-five in two and holed it for eagle it to leap to 11 below, and moments later, his enjoying companions Sharma and Fox rolled of their birdie putts and the three of them walked to the fifteenth tee sharing the lead.
Sharma’s problem ended with bogeys at 16 and 17 and when Fleetwood tapped in for par on the final, after nearly sinking an enormous birdie try, Fox paid for a poor tee shot and posted his solely bogey of the day on the worst potential second.
Sharma completed in solo third at 9 below par, with Richie Ramsay a shot additional again.
Fleetwood stated: “I already had so many superb reminiscences of this place, and this has simply added to that. It’s superb we obtained 4 rounds in ultimately and it was such a stunning feeling coming down the again 9 with an opportunity and battling it out. You draw on the nice reminiscences that you’ve got spherical someplace you’ve gained. I felt good all day and I performed nice after we got here again out after the climate delay.”
Tommy Fleetwood WITB
- TaylorMade Stealth Plus 9° driver
- TaylorMade Stealth Plus 15° 3-wood
- TaylorMade Stealth Plus 19° 5-wood
- TaylorMade Stealth UDI 3-iron
- TaylorMade P.7TW (4-PW)
- TaylorMade Hello-Toe 2 wedge (52°), Titleist Vokey Prototype (60°)
- Odyssey White Scorching OG #1 putter
- TaylorMade TP5x Pix ball
