Kristoffer Reitan started the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday with a five-shot lead. He would quickly discover that it was not insurmountable.
The 27-year-old Norwegian was looking for his second DP World Tour victory. But he made three bogeys in the first seven holes at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa, and suddenly the bottom line was wide open. He quickly birdied the next two holes, then played the final nine holes in one-over par to shoot an even par 72 and pass Jayden Schaper and Dan Bradbury by one stroke. Bogey on the 15th hole only gave him a one-shot lead, which he held.
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It was a breakthrough year for Reitan. He won his first DP World Tour title in May at the Soudal Open in Belgium and also earned PGA Tour membership through the Race to Dubai rankings. He started the year ranked 425th in the world. Now, Nedbank’s victory will certainly move it up a bit from its 59th position.
The end of year top 50 will be earn invitations to the Masters and he is expected to stay comfortably inside the marker. He only played the US Open and the British Open once. This would be his first trip to Augusta National.
“I don’t know what I feel right now,” Reitan said. “I was very nervous today. But crossing the finish line at the end is a better feeling than I can describe.
“I’m trying my best to deal with the nervousness and the fear. It’s really, really hard. I’ve done really well since mid-season last year. It’s getting harder and harder, but I’m happy I handled it the right way and crossed the finish line. It means so much. I’m so happy.”
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Sunday was an impressive day for Scandinavian golf as Reitan and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen from Denmark both won DP World Tour titles. Neergaard-Petersen managed to win the Australian Open by going up and down on the final hole and Cameron Smith missing a short putt that would have sent this championship to a playoff.
“I’m over the moon for Rasmus. He’s playing so well,” Reitan said. “He’s an incredible player and he’s come close a few times and obviously he’s won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour. I’m really happy to see him get his first win on the DP World Tour.”
