Max Kennedy, Liam Nolan and Gary Hurley each shot three-over 75s to close out the week at the HotelPlanner Tour’s season-opening event in South Africa, where MJ Viljoen held his nerve to provide a home winner.
Both Kennedy and Nolan looked primed to start their 2026 campaigns with high finishes as they went into the final round in shares of 12th and 18th place respectively, but it proved to be a day where very little went right for the duo.
Kennedy, who fired a seven-under 65 on moving day to charge up the leaderboard, made just the one birdie on the final day, but he’d already bogeyed two of the opening nine holes before recording his lone red number on 10.
That was offset by another bogey on the 11th, and he closed out the week with a bogey on the par-5 18th to fall into a tie for 33rd place, one ahead of Nolan who did make three birdies in his final round but having opened with a bogey, he carded back-to-back doubles either side of the turn before birdieing three of the following five. He too bogeyed the last, finishing tied for 39th.
Earlier in the day, Hurley dropped four shots in the space of four holes on the front nine, but after dropping another on 13, birdied two of his final four to end the week at level-par and sharing 65th.
At the top of the leaderboard, MJ Viljoin came through a play-off to seal a maiden HotelPlanner Tour title on a dramatic final day.
The South African birdied the 72nd hole to force a play-off with countryman Deon Germishuys who had earlier set the clubhouse lead, before birdieing the first extra hole to make sure of a breakthrough victory.
Viljoin, who becomes the early Road to Mallorca Number One after the first event of the season, was delighted to end the week on top, with his wife and one-year-old daughter greenside when the winning putt dropped.
“It’s massive,” he said. “I went through a lot the last two or three years. It’s about time it happened, and this opens a lot of doors for me.
“It was a lot of emotions today. I kept believing in myself and I brought it through. It’s a lot of emotions to dissolve, but it’s done.
“My wife flew to Johannesburg on Friday, and it’s so nice to have them here. It’s very cool.”
Viljoen started the day one shot off the lead but birdied each of his opening three holes and added another gain at the sixth to move clear at the top.
The 30-year-old remained in front at the turn despite his first dropped shot of the day coming at the seventh, and when he made birdie at 13, he held a three-shot lead with five to play.
Viljoen then faltered for the first time, carding three successive bogeys from the 15th, but regrouped to get up and down brilliantly at the 18th for birdie to force a play-off, before birdieing the first extra hole to make sure a first HotelPlanner Tour win.
“I can’t recall what was going through my mind, but a lot of things happened,” he added. “I looked at the leaderboard, but I tried not to react to it too much.
“I stayed in the moment, focused on myself and what I was doing, and tried to forget about what else was happening.
“You don’t get lots of chances to win tournaments, so I was always going to go for it in the play-off.”
Frenchman Maxence Giboudot, who shared the overnight lead, ended the week in a share of third place alongside South African Jean Hugo on 14 under par.
Six players were one shot further back in sixth, including Pieter Moolman, Luke Brown, Jaco Prinsloo and Ryan van Velzen from South Africa, German Jannik de Bruyn and Englishman Callum Farr.
Viljoen sits atop the early Road to Mallorca Rankings after the opening event of the season, with Germishuys in second place. Giboudot occupies third place, while De Bruyn, Farr and Van Velzen share fourth.
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