Christiaan Bezuidenhout didn’t win the Alfred Dunhill Championship as much as he made sure not to lose it.
While others struggled with windy conditions at the picturesque Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa, the 26-year-old Bezuidenhout maintained his composure in his home country and used a final-round 69 to take the title, his second on the European Tour.
Bezuidenhout finished at 14 under for the event, four strokes better than a pack of four that included second- and third-round leader Adrian Meronk.
Richard Bland, Sean Crocker and another South African Jayden Schaper tied with Meronk for second place at 10 under.
“It’s incredible. This tournament has been close to my heart since I played it for the first time,” Bezuidenhout said. “It’s always been a tournament I wanted to win.”
Bezuidenhout, who turned pro in 2015, speaks with a pronounced stammer as a result of mistakenly drinking rat poison at the age of two. He took beta blockers to control the stammer which led to a failed drug test during the 2014 British Amateur Championship. A two-year ban was reduced to nine months after officials agreed he had not sought an unfair advantage. However, he consequently missed representing South Africa in the Eisenhower Trophy.
Five years later, he won on the European Tour winner in just his 57th appearance.
With the victory, Bezuidenhout gets back into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Meronk, who was looking to become the first Polish winner in the European Tour’s history, struggled with the pressure on, finishing with a final-round 76.
“I’m a little bit disappointed today with the back nine, obviously,” Meronk said. “But if I look back on it, it’s a solid week. The best of my career so far.”
A South African swing of the European Tour continues next week at the historic South African Open at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, an event that started in 1903 and is the second-oldest national golf championship — after the British Open.
