Andrea Pavan offered a good performance, finishing seventh with 205 (-11) shots in the 114th Investec South African Open Championship, an event organized in collaboration between DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour on the Durban Country Club course (par 72), in Durban, South Africa. Due to bad weather, the fourth round could not be played and the ranking was made valid at the end of the third round, where the South African Dylan Naidoo (70 61 71) and the English Laurie Canter (69 65 68) were in command with 202 (-14). A play-off was held, with Naidoo winning with a birdie on the first extra hole.
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DP World Tour, results
Another Englishman Marco Penge, third with 203 (-13), was left out of the playoff by one stroke, while three home players occupied fourth place with 204 (-12): Darren Fichardt, Branden Grace, a member of LIV Golf and winner in 2020, and amateur Christiaan Maas. In seventh place, together with Pavan, was Englishman Dale Whitnell, protagonist on the second day when he made two holes in one (hole 2, 165 meters, par 3, 7 iron and hole 12, par 3, 136 meters). South African Dean Burmester, another athlete from the Arab Super League and defending champion, did not shine, only 37th with 211 (-5).
Dylan Naidoo, 27, from Johannesburg, a success on the Sunshine Tour (SunBet Challenge Sun Sibaya, 2022) and a second place in the Mauritius Open this season, signed his first title on the DP World Tour which also counts for him on the South African circuit. He took the lead in the final round, climbing from second place with a 71 (-1, two birdies, one bogey), but was caught by Canter who made up nine positions with a 68 (-4) a bit complex (one eagle, six birdies, two bogeys, one double bogey) and who, however, could not avoid giving in in the playoff. For the exploit, the 18th of the South Africans in the 2000s out of 26 editions, with the last seven in a row, Naidoo received a check for 245,489 euros on a prize pool of approximately 1,445,000 euros (1,500,000 dollars the official figure).
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Andrea Pavan (67 66 72), 35 years old from Rome, 255 appearances on the circuit with two victories (along with five titles on the HotelPlanner Tour, formerly Challenge Tour) is in his first top ten in a year that is currently positive. He closed the tournament with a 72 (par, three birdies, three bogeys). Francesco Laporta (76 66) and Gregorio De Leo (68 74) both went out at the cut, both 81st with 142 (-2).
