South Africa’s SUN CITY, The American Max Homa won the Nedbank Challenge on Sunday by four strokes after having a one-shot lead the night before. He won the event, which has been called Africa’s major, on his first try.
The Californian, who is 32 years old, shot 66 and finished with a score of 269, 19 strokes below par. He beat Ryder Cup rival Nicolai Hojgaard, who ended with 273.
Thorbjorn Olesen, who is also Danish and plays golf with Hojgaard, came third with 274. He had a strong start but slowed down in the last few holes at the Gary Player Country Club.
At the start of the final round at the casino resort, about 200 km northwest of Johannesburg, Homa had a one-shot lead over Olesen. However, Olesen caught up with six birdies in an outward 31. This was Homa’s first event since the Ryder Cup in Rome last month.
“What a crazy day! I got off to such a great start, but Thorbjorn was playing so well and kept pushing us along,” the winner said.
Homa regained the lead with an eagle on the ninth hole, and on the 14th, a mishit shot hit an official’s buggy and went back into play, which was a lucky break for him.
Three shots ahead, he made birdies on the next two holes and a 38-foot putt on the 16th.
He said, “It was a weird putt.” “It was easy for me to hit the greens the first three days, but today it was terrible. I don’t know if it was nerves.” Even though that putt wasn’t very good, it did make it to the back of the cup.
Olesen’s double bogey on 17 gave Homa a bigger lead and finished the competition. Hojgaard fell to second place.
In the second-to-last event of the DP World Tour season, American Justin Thomas came in fourth, seven shots behind the winner. This happened after Englishman Dan Bradbury missed a putt on the last hole and fell to fifth. The season ends next week with the championship in Dubai.
