There was an “Irish” winner in the African Amateur Stroke Play Championship as reigning East of Ireland champion Martin Vorster showed remarkable fortitude to secure victory on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff at Leopard Creek.

The 18-year-old Southern Cape golfer, who became the second youngster winner in the history of the East at Baltray last year by succeeding compatriot Christo Lambrecht as champion, bottled a 30-foot eagle putt on the 72nd hole to force a sudden-death playoff with England’s Olly Huggins.

He shot a one-under 71 to Huggins’ brilliant 67 to tie on four-under-par 284 before going on to snatch the title at the fourth hole of a playoff that was interrupted by a lengthy weather delay,

It was a good week for the Irish as Mallow’s James Sugrue closed with a four-over 76 to finish tied for sixth with Dundalk’s Caolan Rafferty on three-over in their first starts this year.

Rafferty shot 74 on the final day while Holywood teenager Tom McKibbin made two birdies and two bogeys in a level par 72 to tie for ninth on five-over.

The glory, however, was for Vorster, who holed a 30-footer for eagle in the final hole of regulation play to force a play-off, then wore down his opponent in extra time.

The played the 18th twice but were then delayed by the threat of lightning before halving it for a third time.

“It was unreal,” said Vorster, who eventually won with a par at the first. “I’m speechless. This win means so much to me.”

It was Vorster’s fourth international victory in four years after he won the 2017 Italian U-16 International, the 2018 Junior Open and the 2019 East of Ireland. 

GolfRSA reported:

The GolfRSA National Squad member also captained the South African Junior Proteas to a record-setting 41-under-par victory in the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan last year – a full 18 years after Major champions Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel captured the country’s first title with Albert Kruger and Christian Ries.

For long periods of the final round, Huggins was in control by virtue of his smart play and his great putting. He laid up on all the par-fives, aimed for the biggest part of the greens in the face of tough pin positions and then making putts when he needed them.

Vorster, however, was stalking him through the back nine.

A birdie on 15 put him within two strokes of the lead. “I had a bit of a rough start,” he said. “After nine holes, I knew I was a bit behind and I had to make a few birdies. I made two on 13 and 15, and then missed a very short one on 17. I knew then that Olly had finished on four-under so I had to make the eagle on the last – thankfully it fell!”

That it did fall was in no small part due to some good putting all week.

“The putting definitely saved me this week,” he said. “I made a few good ones down the stretch, and the one on 18 in regulation was the longest for the week and it happened at the right time.”

For the play-off, Vorster unfurled his power game, and Huggins, so conservative in regulation, was compelled to follow suit. It all worked well for the Huggins until they returned after the weather delay to set off down 18 for the third time. 

The Louis Oosthuizen Golf Academy player took advantage of a tailwind that had picked up and smashed his drive 40 metres further than he had at any time before during the week.

It left him a gentle wedge to the green on the par-five with the island green, and, although the pair shared the honours for the third time in the play-off, the change in the routine to the first had left Huggins clearly somewhat intimidated.

Although Vorster smashed his drive into the right rough on the first - the next designated play-off hole – he had got into Huggins’ head.

The Englishman short-sided himself, Vorster recovered well enough to chip his third to a foot while Huggins was 20 feet away from the hole for three.

And that was all Vorster needed.

“I’m gutted obviously,” said Huggins, “but I’m really happy with the week. I’ve done what I said I was going to do, which was hit fairways, hit greens, make the putts – I played really nicely. I found out how to play this course after the first round when I shot four-over.”

In third place behind the dramatics provided by the play-off was Ryan van Velzen, who led through the first two rounds. The Benoni teenager recovered from his third-round blowout of 11-over-par 83 to post a final level-par 72 to end up on two-under, just two shots off the top of the leaderboard.

England’s Joseph Long shot the round of the day with his six-under-par 66, one better than Huggins’ effort, and he shared fourth place with South Africa’s Jordan Duminy. The Irish duo of Caolan Rafferty and James Sugrue finished on three-over for the tournament to share sixth.

For Vorster, it was a victory to savour. “I just want to thank everybody for the support,” he said, “and the people who came out to watch the play-off. It was a relief to find my ball on that final hole, and then to get it up and down from the edge of the green was great.”

Malone’s Matthew McClean tied for 36th on 303 after a final round 79 with. Robert Brazill two shots further back in joint 42nd after a 76.

Ireland’s eight-strong squad now travels 440km west for next week’s South African Stroke Play Championshipk at Randpark Golf Club near Pretoria.

African Amateur Strokeplay, Leopard Creek (Par 72)

Detailed scores / Course planner / Final round tee-times

Final (RSA unless stated)

284 Martin Vorster 70 67 76 71; Olly Huggins (Eng) 76 69 72 67

285 Ryan van Velzen 64 66 83 72

289 Joseph Long (Eng) 74 68 81 66; Jordan Duminy 69 74 74 72

291 Caolan Rafferty (Irl) 74 72 71 74; James Sugrue (Irl) 69 68 78 76

292 Haider Hussain (Eng) 70 71 77 74

293 Tom McKibbin (Irl) 75 73 73 72; Yurav Premlall 72 75 72 74

294 Samuel Simpson 76 71 70 77; Casey Jarvis 72 74 70 78; Gustav Andersson (Swe) 70 76 73 75

295 Altin van der Merwe 73 75 74 73; Gregory Mckay 72 71 77 75

296 Keagan Thomas 78 72 70 76; Andrew Williamson 76 77 73 70; Tom Vaillant (Fra) 75 72 74 75; Luca Filippi 75 71 78 72

297 Kyle de Beer 74 78 72 73; Connor Wilson (Sco) 73 68 80 76; Robin Williams (Eng) 70 70 84 73; Christo Lamprecht Jnr 67 71 83 76

298 James Wilson (Sco) 77 71 75 75

299 Sam Bairstow (Eng) 79 71 78 71; Tyran Snyders 78 77 70 74; Liam van Deventer 71 69 81 78

300 Christiaan Maas 77 70 81 72; Jake Bolton (Eng) 75 73 77 75; Algot Kleen (Swe) 68 74 81 77

301 Peter Handcock (Eng) 75 74 75 77; Martin Couvra (Fra) 75 72 78 76

302 Nicolas Muller (Fra) 75 77 74 76; Aurelien Douce (Fra) 73 76 78 75; Adam Wallin (Swe) 72 73 81 76

303 Hugo Thyr (Swe) 79 71 78 75; Ayden Senger 78 72 77 76; Siyanda Mwandla 74 76 75 78; Matthew McClean (Irl) 72 82 70 79

304 Therion Nel 75 79 74 76; Lewis Irvine (Sco) 74 73 77 80

305 Robert Brazill (Irl) 84 72 73 76; Stuart Easton (Sco) 76 79 75 75; Nikhil Gopal 73 74 82 76

306 Nikhil Rama 73 76 81 76

307 Darren Howie (Sco) 77 73 81 76

308 Rigardt Albertse 71 71 80 86

309 Jordan Burnand 79 77 75 78; Hugo Archer (Fra) 75 79 77 78

310 Drikus Joubert 75 77 78 80

311 Wilmer Edero (Swe) 80 74 75 82

317 Pierre Pellegrin 74 76 81 86