Scotsman Calum Hill climbs mountain to claim unlikely Joburg Open win

Scotsman Calum Hill climbed a mountain to win the Joburg Open on the second playoff hole on Sunday, lifting a trophy that had seemed within the grasp of a handful of players during a nail-biting, topsy-turvy final round.

Hill outlasted Shaun Norris, the leader through the second and third rounds, and Jacques Kruyswijk on the 18th hole of the Houghton layout. They’d all parred the hole on the first attempt, but second time around the Briton was the only one to score par.

The biggest losers on the day were the partisan fans, whose groans for the missed putts by the two South Africans were louder than the cheers for Hill, who deserved a standing ovation for even making the playoff.

Even Hill, who had started the day eight shots off the lead, was stunned to find himself in the winner’s circle. “I’m a little bit taken aback at the minute. I was really far back at the start of the day and had a great round of golf and a lot of putts went in.

“So I’m a little bit shocked.”

Hill fired the best round of the tournament, an eight-under-par 62, to get to 14 under par, though his score didn’t count as a course record because of preferred lies. 

He and Dylan Frittelli, playing five groups ahead of Norris and Kruyswijk, produced sensational fireworks through their round, with the South African finishing on 63.

In fact it was Frittelli who first dislodged Norris off the top of the leader board when he holed out for his second eagle of the round on the par-four 13th to move to 14 under par.

Norris had started on 14 under with a four-stroke advantage, but he dropped two shots on the opening two holes and the chasing pack smelled blood. 

Fritelli’s challenge effectively ended with a bogey on the difficult 15th — the second-most difficult hole on the day — and a missed birdie putt on 17.

Kruyswijk was the next one in the hunt, knocking off consecutive birdies on 13 and 14 to move to 14 under before dropping a shot on 15.

And then Hill, who is coached by South African Grant Veenstra, stormed into contention, making three birdies on a row from 13 to 15 before dropping a shot on the par-three 16th.

But a peach of an approach on the 18th that kicked off the slope on the right and sent the ball close allowed him to close with a birdie, taking the sole lead at that point.

Hill admitted afterwards that he hadn’t planned the shot. “I was intending to go straight at the pin and I pushed it and luckily the fringes are very soft and it got a fantastic kick. I had a lot of luck on my side on that one and fortunately I was able to hole the putt.”

Kruyswijk birdied the 17th to draw level and then Norris, who carded a double bogey on 12, birdied 16 and 18 to get in on the playoff action.

There was nothing in it on the first playoff hole, but on the second Norris blinked first, hitting his tee shot into the bunker on the right and then pulling his approach into the water on the left.

Hill scored a regulation par while Kruyswijk missed his par effort to hand the Scotsman his second DP World Tour victory.