Justin Harding carded a nerveless bogey-free 66 to claim his first win in two years at the Magical Kenya Open.
The South African won the Qatar Masters in March 2019 as part of a stunning run of form that saw him claim five wins in 10 months and earn himself a place at the Masters as he broke into the top 50 in the world.
It was a tie for second at this event the week after his victory in the desert that booked his place at Augusta National, and Harding once again looked right at home in Nairobi as he finished the week at 21 under, two shots clear of American Kurt Kitayama and four ahead of Scot Connor Syme.
“I went through such a good run in 2019 when it felt like I never actually played badly,” he said. “Getting over the line in Qatar was, it sounds a bit strange now, but it was almost like something that was going to happen.
“I’ve been through a dip in form in terms of mixed results and it was nice to get over the line this time around. Winning isn’t everything but I think being in the winner’s circle again means a little more to me than I actually thought it did.”
Harding birdied the sixth and seventh and, when he drove the par-four ninth to 15 feet and rolled in the eagle putt, he led by four.
Kitayama put some pressure on with a chip-in eagle on the 12th and a birdie on the 17th but Harding followed him in from 10 feet on the penultimate hole and parred the last for victory.
Syme was six shots off the lead at the start of the day but briefly held second on his own as he birdied the third, fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, 11th and 12th.
A bogey on the 14th stalled his momentum but he played a towering iron into the 15th for a tap-in birdie before going bogey-birdie over the next two holes in a 64.
“I’ve been working really, really hard over the last four weeks with my dad Stuart at home on my putting,” he said. “A 64 on a Sunday is probably one of my lowest finishes to a tournament. It bodes well for next week.”
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Magical Kenya Open, Karen CC, Nairobi, Kenya (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71):
263 Justin Harding (Rsa) 66 67 64 66
265 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 67 66 66 66
267 Connor Syme 65 67 71 64
268 Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 67 70 68 63
269 Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 70 67 65, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 68 66 67, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 68 72 65 64
270 Pep Angles (Spa) 70 67 67 66, Sam Horsfield 65 71 69 65, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 68 64 71 67, Calum Hill 65 68 67 70
271 Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 71 65 67 68, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 65 66 72 68, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 69 69 66, Justin Walters (Rsa) 67 71 68 65
272 Scott Hend (Aus) 67 64 68 73, George Coetzee (Rsa) 72 66 69 65, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 68 68 70 66, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 66 72 69 65, Jamie Donaldson 69 67 69 67, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 67 68 68 69, Johannes Veerman (USA) 68 69 62 73, Garrick Porteous 71 68 67 66
273 Aaron Rai 70 67 70 66, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 70 67 68 68, Jayden Schaper (Rsa) 68 70 65 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 70 67 67
274 Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 67 69 71 67, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 70 69 69 66, Richard McEvoy 70 70 65 69, John Catlin (USA) 71 69 69 65, Jack Senior 68 68 71 67
275 Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 72 68 71 64, Oliver Wilson 70 67 72 66, Grant Forrest 73 66 68 68, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 72 69 66, Ricardo Santos (Por) 71 66 68 70, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 67 71 68 69, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 70 70 66 69, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 65 71 67 72
276 Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 69 67 70, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 68 69 69 70, Gavin Green (Mal) 68 69 68 71, Benjamin Poke (Den) 69 70 69 68, Dale Whitnell 66 70 68 72, Ben Evans 71 68 71 66
277 Jordan Smith 68 70 69 70, Richie Ramsay 67 65 77 68, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 67 69 71 70, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 70 67 68 72, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 65 73 67 72
278 Matt Ford 68 72 70 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 71 66 72 69, Ashley Chesters 71 68 67 72, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 70 71 67, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 65 68 73 72, Richard Bland 71 69 71 67, Darius van Driel (Ned) 69 71 71 67, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 71 69 69 69, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 72 67 69 70, Damien Perrier (Fra) 68 71 74 65
279 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 70 70 70 69, Scott Vincent (Zim) 68 71 71 69, Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 72 68 68 71
280 Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 73 66 72 69, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 68 69 69 74, Toby Tree 67 73 69 71, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 71 68 70 71, Romain Wattel (Fra) 69 71 72 68
281 Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 64 72 75 70, Matthew Southgate 66 69 75 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 73 71 70
282 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 70 70 75 67, Kyong-Jun Moon (Kor) 70 69 71 72, J. C. Ritchie (Rsa) 69 70 69 74
283 Lee Slattery 71 69 75 68
284 Samuel Chege (Ken) 72 68 74 70
