JOBURG OPEN JOY FOR HANSEN

A charging 66 gave Denmark’s Anders Hansen the Joburg Open title in the European Tour’s opening tournament of the year.

A charging 66 gave Denmark’s Soren Hansen the Joburg Open title in the European Tour’s opening tournament 2009.
The Dane, who was playing in the penultimate group at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, came from behind with an early five-birdie charge over the front nine, slipped a little with a 12th hole bogey, but then was tied at the top at 14-under teeing off at the par-five 18th hole, and gave himself a great chance of winning by putting his second shot just 25 feet from the hole.
He missed the eagle chance, but made birdie from three feet to finish with a 15-under 269 that was enough to give him the title.
Hansen believed his 15-under total might not be enough, though, and went straight to the practice range after coming off the final green to keep warm for a possible playoff.
His fears were groundless
Needing a birdie on the last, South African Andrew McLardy made a mess of his tee shot, pulling it into the trees to blow his chance after he had led the tournament overnight with Charl Schwartzel and David Drysdale.
Scot Drysdale ended in sole third place with a 69 and a tournament total 271 with Schwartzel, England’s Danny Willet, and local golfer Tyrone van Aswegenl a further shot back at 12-under.
Three other players finished the week on 11-under 273, including the English pair of Richard McEvoy and David Dixon, while the round of the day belonged to South African Charl Coetzee, who carded a six-under 66, to finish his tournament at nine-under 275.
Hansen, though, did enough through his final round to claim his third Tour title.
Things had looked very different, however, on day one when he finished with a level-par 71 to sit eight shots off the lead.
He said: “It means a lot to win obviously – because that’s of course what we’re here for. Especially after the first day where the first two holes I started double bogey-bogey and I was thinking ‘what is this’?
“But I turned that round around and got off to a flying start the second day. I couldn’t keep it going, but that sort of helped me put things into perspective thinking about the next day.
“I thought I needed to keep the third round going and again got off to a good start. And then today I thought I had to come out and shoot five under. I thought 15 under was going to be the winning score, so I was right.”
The 38-year-old’s biggest move of the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event came on the front nine where he claimed five birdies, including four in four to make the turn in 31.
But a bogey on the par-three 12th hole saw him slip back before he hit back on the final hole.
He continued: “I played really nicely on the front nine there and hit a lot of good shots, so it was really great. It (the bogey) is obviously a momentum breaker, I didn’t hit a great tee shot, and it cost me.
“(On the last) I was focused on just hitting a good drive and I did that. I hit a great second shot and the two-putt was enough, so it’s great.”
Englishman Willett, who began his round with a bogey before finishing birdie-birdie for a round of 68, said: “It was a good finish. I turned in one over and I was not really playing very well and then I tried to get it going on the back nine.
“I had a really good finish then down 17 and 18, so yeah, I’m quite happy.
“A top five this week gets me into next week at Abu Dhabi, which I wouldn’t have got in otherwise.
“I’m just trying to play well this year, keep plodding along and hopefully keep my card, so we’ll see what happens.”
The biggest cheer of the day was reserved for two-time major winner Retief Goosen, who holed a three-iron from 216 yards for an albatross on the par-five 18th to end a disappointing round that included nine bogeys with a 74 and a tournament total of seven-under 277.
Defending champion Richard Sterne, bidding for a third consecutive European Tour title, made a valiant attempt to defend his crown by finishing with a 68, nine under overall, while Englishman Chris Wood ended with a 73.
ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
269 Anders Hansen (Den) 71 68 64 66
270 Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 65 68 69 68
271 David Drysdale 65 66 71 69
272 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 71 63 70, Danny Willett 67 66 71 68, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 69 65 70 68
273 David Dixon 68 69 68 68, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 69 68 66 70, Richard McEvoy 69 65 72 67
274 Estanislao Goya (Arg) 70 69 69 66, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 66 67 70
275 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 69 66 71, Graham De laet (Can) 72 66 68 69, Taco Remkes (Ned) 67 70 69 69, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 67 70 69 69, James Kamte (Rsa) 69 69 66 71, Michael Hoey 64 68 72 71, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 66 70 68, Charl Coetzee (Rsa) 68 67 75 65
276 Brett Liddle (Rsa) 67 70 69 70, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 67 72 67 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 65 69 70 72
277 Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 67 65 73 72, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 67 73 71 66, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 68 65 74, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 69 69 67 72, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 72 64 70 71
278 Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 68 71 70 69, Gary Lockerbie 69 68 72 69, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 69 67 71, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 66 69 75 68, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 63 76 72 67, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 67 69 72, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 66 72 68 72
279 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 69 66 72 72, Alan McLean 71 65 71 72, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 66 72 72 69
280 Chris Gane 70 70 71 69, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 68 72 72 68, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 74 65 70 71, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 71 71, James Morrison 67 68 74 71, Gary Clark 72 67 68 73, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 68 70 71 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 64 73 71
281 John Mellor 72 67 70 72, Carl Suneson (Spa) 67 73 72 69, Andre Bossert (Swi) 70 69 74 68, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 73 65 75 68, Doug McGuigan 69 71 70 71, Cameron Johnston (Rsa) 72 66 73 70
282 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 73 75 67, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 72 64 72 74, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 68 72 70 72, Phillip Archer 69 70 73 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 68 70 73 71
283 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 70 70 69 74, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 67 71 74 71, Iain Pyman 71 69 69 74, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 72 64 76 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 70 70 75, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 65 71 73 74, Simon Griffiths 73 64 71 75, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 65 71 74 73
284 Chris Wood 69 70 72 73, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 70 70 73 71, Jake Roos (Rsa) 69 69 73 73, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 69 71 71 73, Tc Charamba (Zim) 70 67 77 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 65 78 70, Kevin Stone (Rsa) 69 70 71 74, Christopher Doak 68 70 74 72
285 Bobby Lincoln (Rsa) 68 72 73 72
286 Neil Cheetham 73 67 73 73, Kasper linnet Jorgensen (Den) 68 72 74 72, Michele Reale (Ita) 66 74 73 73
287 David Carter 67 72 73 75
288 Sam Little 72 68 74 74, Michael Curtis (Zim) 74 65 75 74
289 John E Morgan 69 70 72 78
290 Edrich Jansen (Rsa) 70 70 73 77
291 Gregory Molteni (Ita) 73 65 77 76
292 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 68 72 79 73