Tom McKibbin signed off on 2025 with a level-par 72 and a T16 finish while Kristoffer Reitan held off playing partners Jayden Schaper and Dan Bradbury to secure his second DP World Tour title on a nerve-shredding final day of the 2026 Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player.
Rounds of 68 on days one and three which sandwiched a two-over 74 in round two left McKibbin 11 shots back going into the final round but within striking distance of the top 10 in the event known as Africa’s major.
But a double bogey on the par-4 third, failure to take advantage of either of the par-5s, and just the one birdie which came on the par-4 eighth left him on one-over for the day at the turn.
An eagle on the par-5 10th, however, breathed fresh life into his hopes of a top five finish in his final competitive start of the year, but he’d only pick up one birdie over the closing eight, making bogeys on 12 and 18 to end the day on level-par for the round and six-under overall, sharing 16th place.
Reitan began the day with a commanding five-shot lead but left the door wide open for the chasing pack as he struggled for consistency.
The Norwegian mixed four birdies with three bogeys on the front nine to hold a four-shot lead at the turn but, as he parred the first five holes of the back nine, Schaper and Bradbury closed the gap to two.
Reitan piled further pressure on himself as he bogeyed the 15th to sit just one clear but managed to hang on, parring his way home to close out a wire-to-wire victory by one shot, and become the first Norwegian winner of the event.
His level-par 71 was enough to get to 17 under par, one clear of home favourite Schaper and Englishman Bradbury.
Reitan has enjoyed a stellar 2025, winning his maiden DP World Tour title at the Soudal Open and earning dual membership with the PGA TOUR. He has now won twice in the calendar year and in back-to-back seasons.
Reitan made a shaky start on Sunday morning as he bogeyed the first but got the shot back from close range on the second.
Another bogey followed at the third before he rolled in a 13-foot birdie putt on the fifth to lead by three shots on 17 under.
Having been unable to save par on the short seventh, he bounced back with a long-range birdie at the eighth before making another from close range on the ninth to turn in 35.
But as he fought hard to avoid dropping shots on the back nine, Schaper and Bradbury found the birdies they required to eat into his lead.
And when Reitan bogeyed the 15th after failing to get out of the rough with his third shot, the chasing pair were just one back.
But he regained his composure and parred each of the final three holes to keep his playing partners at bay and add a second DP World Tour crown to the one he won in Belgium in May.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling right now,” he said. “I had a lot of nerves today. But to get it over the line in the end is a better feeling than I can describe.
“I’m trying my best to deal with nervousness, fear. It’s really, really difficult. I’ve managed to do that really well ever since mid-season last year. It just keeps getting increasingly more difficult, but I’m glad to have dealt with it in a good way and get this over the line. That means so much. I’m so pleased.
“I don’t know about a settler (the birdie on eight), it never settled me. But I would say that helps, and with self belief as well, you think OK I can do this.
“I needed things to go my way a bit as well. Those two guys, Dan and Jayden, they played so well today, they kept pushing me. I was able to keep them at arm’s length in the end.”
The victory rounded off a sensational day for Scandinavian golf, following Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen’s win at the Crown Australian Open.
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