South Africa’s Daniel Van Tonder defeated Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond in a play-off at the Kenya Savannah Classic to claim his first European Tour title and a fifth win in his last 13 events.
Van Tonder birdied the third extra hole at Karen Country Club after the leading pair had finished tied on 21 under par following a day of remarkable low scoring.
The top four players all shot final rounds of 64, but England’s Sam Horsfield and Scotland’s Calum Hill both crucially bogeyed the 72nd hole to miss out on the play-off by a single shot.
In contrast, Van Tonder recovered from dropping shots on the 14th and 15th to birdie the 18th from 40 feet and pile the pressure on Janewattananond, who parred the last two holes following a bogey on the 16th.
Van Tonder lipped out for birdie on the first extra hole and the second was also halved in par fours before the 30-year-old produced a superb approach to the third and converted the birdie putt from two feet.
“I’ve been playing well and working hard on the game, I’m overwhelmed,” said Van Tonder, whose wife Abi is his caddie. “My wife and I have been a great team.
“I was thinking I’m usually a bit dangerous on the last few holes, I knew I could make a few birdies. I told my wife on the last hole (in regulation) I’d put myself on the green, give myself a chance to make a putt and I did.
“It was very special. She’s been on the bag for seven years. She’s been with me through thick and thin.
“Last year I had four wins on the Sunshine Tour, then Covid happened and it made everything a bit hard travel-wise and getting into tournaments. It wasn’t easy. I had to work hard and keep myself motivated. It paid off, so I’m very happy.”
The Irish duo left in the field, Cormac Sharvin and Jonathan Caldwell, finished their weeks with a 69 and 74 respectively.
South Africa’s Jacques Kruyswijk and Scotland’s David Drysdale shared fifth place on 18 under par after closing rounds of 64 and 67 respectively.
Justin Harding, who was seeking back-to-back wins on the same course in the space of six days, took a three-shot lead into the final round but struggled to a 73 to finish in a tie for 14th.
Collated final scores & totals in the European Tour, Karen Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya (Britain and Irl unless stated Par 71):
263 Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 65 64 70 64 (won at the third extra play-off hole), Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 66 68 65 64
264 Sam Horsfield 66 68 66 64, Calum Hill 67 68 65 64
266 David Drysdale 65 65 69 67, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 70 64 68 64
267 Joost Luiten (Ned) 64 68 70 65, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 66 70 66 65, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 67 66 68 66
268 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 70 68 63, Darius van Driel (Ned) 70 62 69 67, Marcus Armitage 65 67 67 69, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 65 66 68 69
269 Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 64 71 67, Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 70 67 67 65, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 66 65 71 67, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 66 66 68 69, Justin Harding (Rsa) 64 66 66 73, Ashley Chesters 67 68 65 69
270 Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 69 65 65 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 64 71 67 68, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 71 65 64 70, Jayden Schaper (Rsa) 69 67 69 65, Lee Slattery 66 68 69 67, Rhys Enoch 67 67 69 67
271 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 68 67 70 66, Liam Johnston 66 69 66 70
272 James Morrison 70 65 66 71, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 69 68 64 71
273 Steven Brown 68 67 67 71, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 69 69 69 66, Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 65 74 67, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 66 69 70 68, Toby Tree 67 71 64 71, Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 70 66 70 67, Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 72 66 66 69, Aaron Rai 70 68 67 68
274 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 66 71 66 71, Dale Whitnell 70 67 73 64, Garrick Porteous 69 68 64 73, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 68 69 67
275 Richie Ramsay 71 66 68 70, Scott Vincent (Zim) 67 67 72 69, Matthiam Keyser (Rsa) 65 70 69 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 70 67 66 72, Scott Hend (Aus) 66 70 72 67, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 70 67 70
276 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 69 68 71, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 70 64 70 72, David Howell 70 67 71 68, Jack Senior 67 69 68 72, Cormac Sharvin 65 72 70 69, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 67 69 68 72, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 68 68 72 68, Wil Besseling (Ned) 67 69 70 70, Clement Sordet (Fra) 64 70 70 72
277 Jonathan Caldwell 65 68 70 74, Ben Evans 68 68 71 70, Daniel Young 73 65 69 70, Svn-Hwan Kim (Kor) 68 70 71 68, David Wakhu (Ken) 66 68 74 69, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 68 71 69
278 David Coupland 70 68 70 70, Hurly Long (Ger) 69 65 71 73, Emilio Cuartero (Spa) 66 70 71 71
279 Julian Suri (USA) 66 70 71 72
280 Ricardo Santos (Por) 68 68 72 72, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 67 69 70 74
282 Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 64 68 76
283 Martin Leth Simonsen (Den) 70 68 72 73
284 Daan Huizing (Ned) 68 70 75 71
285 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 68 70 74 73
288 Ross McGowan 65 71 77 75
