St Andrews, Scotland: It is said that in golf, and indeed other sports, nobody remembers who finished second.
South Africa’s Richard Sterne will dispute this. He certainly won’t forget his joint-second place in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the Home of Golf on Sunday. The six-time winner on the European Tour closed with a six-under-par 66 at St Andrews to share the runner-up spot on 19-under-par 269 with England’s Ross Fisher.
“It was just one of those tournaments when one guy (in this case Tyrrell Hatton) ran away with it,” said Sterne, referring to the maiden European victory by the Englishman, who also signed for a 66 to finish on 23-under-par 265.
And Sterne will forever remember his birdie three on Sunday at the tortuous Road Hole 17th, possibly the toughest par-4 in all of golf.
He hit his drive slightly left into the rough, a common landing place for the golfers as the Old Course Hotel and out-of-bounds lurk ominously on the right.
“You have to play safe on this hole to keep the big numbers off the card, so I laid up short of the green as I didn’t want to risk hitting it a bit too strong and ending up on the road because then you’re in deep trouble,” said Sterne.
The little South African faced a chip shot of about 50 metres, and - like a detective looking for clues - he walked up onto the green, carefully examining slope and possible speed. He chose a sand-wedge for the shot and then executed to perfection, his golf ball finding the back of the cup for a spectacular three.
The 35-year-old Sterne has experienced extremely tough times because of injuries but has, he says, never worked harder on his health or his golf than this year. So he feels this strong showing, which earns him the equivalent of R5,5-million (Hatton picks up a shade over R10-million in terms of SA currency), is a reward for the work put in and a huge boost for his career.
And importantly for him, it moves him up from 72nd in the 2016 Race to Dubai into the top 30, guaranteeing him a spot in the European Tour’s season-ending big-money events in November, the Turkish Airlines Open, the Nedbank Golf Challenge, and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. He also gets into this week’s British Masters.
“I hit the ball so well this week, putted really well and made a lot of good-up-and-downs, some for par, some for birdie. The last two rounds in this tournament are played at St Andrews and I didn’t make a single drop shot in those rounds.”
The highlight of Tyrrell’s week was a record-equaling 10-under-par 62 on the Old Course on Saturday, and at 24 he looks to have a very bright future in golf.
A little lower down Jbe Kruger also signed for a splendid 66 on Sunday which elevated him into the top 15.
The Star