Fleetwood keeps his nerve to retain Golf Challenge title

Defending champion Tommy  Fleetwood pounced when it counted as he fought back from illness and a six-shot deficit early in the tournament to win the $6m (R103m) Nedbank Bank Golf Challenge by one shot on Sunday. 

He fired a five-under-par 67 for an overall 11 under par, with New Zealand’s Ryan Cox second on 10-under and India’s Shubhankar Sharma third one stroke further back.

Not that Fleetwood knew it at the time, but this come-from-behind victory was pretty much sealed when he chipped in for eagle out of the waste bunker at the par-five 14th hole of the Gary Player Country Club layout.

“It was just a kind of spark,” he said afterwards. “After 10, 11, 12, 13 where I hit good putts and nothing was going in — 10 was a bit weak going up the hill — other than that I felt I was doing everything right and just nothing was happening. 

“And then all of a sudden just some kind of spark that gave me a bit of momentum was great. [But] you get to those last four holes, those are four tough holes.”

At the time he and the other two players in his grouping, Fox and Sharma, were involved in a tense battle for top honours. 

Fleetwood, trailing by a stroke at the start of the 14th hole after dropping a shot on the par-three 12th, leapfrogged the two to take the outright lead on 11-under. 

But Fox and Sharma, already on the 14th green, struck back immediately with birdies for a three-way share of the lead. 

The trio were the third-last grouping of the morning, two spots behind overnight leaders Rasmus Højgaard of Denmark and Belgian Thomas Detry, who both imploded with rounds of 76 and 77 amid a weather-interrupted round.

The field was called off the course just before 11am because of lightning and they returned three hours and 40 minutes later.  

Fleetwood, Cox and Sharma delivered the fireworks, all lying five under par for the round going into the 15th. 

It became a mental battle and Sharma blinked first, making a bogey on the par-three 16th after hitting his tee shot into the bunker. 

It came down to Fleetwood and Fox. The day before the tournament started Fox was asked if he felt the two top-ranked players — he and Fleetwood were the only ones inside the top 50 of the world, at 26th and 25th — would be considered favourites. 

Fox dismissed the idea, but by the time they moved onto the 17th, there they were in front. 

On the par-four 17th Fox, the son of All Black legend Grant Fox, was the only one to get on the green in regulation, but Fleetwood chipped brilliantly from just off the green for a tap-in par. 

Then he overcooked his chip and then duffed his putt from the fringe.  

Fleetwood nearly sank a 50-footer for birdie on the 18th, but the tap-in par secured him the trophy. 

The tears flowed straight afterwards. 

“Honestly one of my biggest goals for a while has been to win with my whole family here,” said Fleetwood, who had not won since his 2019 victory here. 

“Frankie’s [his son] always saying all the time I never win anything. He brings medals home from school and he says this is because you never win ... and now they’re at the airport. They’ve got exams tomorrow.”

He said the medical help he received for a stomach ailment had been critical.  

“It was obviously touch and go on Thursday morning, and again yesterday [Saturday] when we woke up early. I felt I had nothing in me at all, I didn’t really sleep that night. 

“The doctor here has been amazing. I just gave his son the winning golf ball because without him there was not a chance on Thursday I would have played.”

Fleetwood won $1m for his effort at the 40th edition of this tournament, less than half the $2.5m he pocketed the last time it was played in 2019, when the total purse was $7.5m. 

He and Fox are heading off to Dubai for the $10m DP World Tour championship from Thursday.