Liam Grehan shot a closing five-under 67 to shoot up the leaderboard and claim a T17 finish at the Sunshine Tour’s Limpopo Championship, while Kyle Barker overturned a remarkable nine-shot deficit to win.
Grehan began the day at +4 after an opening level-par and back-to-back 74s, and birdied his first two holes before adding another on the sixth. Back-to-back bogeys followed, but those were the only dropped shots in his round, and he reeled off another four birdies in successive holes from the 11th and catapulted up the leaderboard.
The result lifted him to 59th on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, and he looks certain to avoid needing to return to Q-School like he had to after his rookie season.
Rowan Lester closed out with a level-par 72 to finish tied for 27th and he’s ranked 35th on the Order of Merit.
While Grehan’s 67 was the lowest score recorded on the final day, it was Kyle Barker’s 68 that proved the most valuable on a roller-coaster final round at Euphoria Golf & Country Estate, where the lead changed hands several times. When the dust settled Barker had produced a measured final round to make it into the clubhouse on nine-under-par.
Cole Stevens, the overnight leader by five shots, struggled on the final day with a closing 77 to also finish on nine under.
Barker then took the title with a par on the first playoff hole against the double bogey of Stevens.
“I don’t know how this one happened today to be honest. I had no expectations going into the round. To find myself in a playoff with such a good player like Cole Stevens was amazing,” said Barker.
“That last putt, geez, I couldn’t feel my body as I was shaking so much. I took a little bit more line just in case I pulled it a bit, which I did, but it dropped right in the middle.”
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