Paul Dunne secured his best finish at the weekend since turning pro in late 2015, sharing sixth place in the Tshwane Open in Pretoria.
Dunne posed a final round five under 66 for a 12-under par tally in his 34th Tour event. However, the Greystones golfer clearly lamented his opening 73 where he posted six bogeys but he dropped just five shots over the following three rounds capping his final day’s play with three birdies in succession from the seventh.
Dunne then muscled his way into sixth on the back of three birdies over his closing five holes to earn a prize cheque for €35,722 and move to 50th on the Race to Dubai with earnings this year of €90,432.
South African Dean Burmester won a sixth pro title carding a closing 65 to win by three shots at 18-under par. The victory could take him into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking and means that South Africans have dominated in winning four of five Tshwane Open’s.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve had an amazing summer and last week was frustrating day for me on Sunday and it didn’t go my way but then my family and everyone who supported me said ‘we’re coming up next week so you better win in front of us’ and I’m glad to have done that.”
“I sharpened my teeth as a youngster on the Big Easy Tour here at home and I think I had five seconds in one year and then two years later I had four wins on the Sunshine Tour. It’s gone from strength to strength and now I’m a European Tour winner and that sounds great.”
The 27-year old South African had narrowly failed to gain his European Tour card at the 2016 Q-School but now with his victory, Burmester will be exempt to the end of 2018.
During the event, former Ryder Cup star Edoardo Molinari got with the spirit of proposed new changes to the game announced by the R &A last week wihen he and playing partner Keenan Davidse completed their last rounds seven minutes short of three hours.
Molinari tweeted: “Hey, could this be one of the quickest rounds ever? 2h 53mins for 18 holes in a 2-ball. And we both shot under par”.
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