Butz

FURYK CLINCHES SUN CITY CROWN

Jim Furyk revealed how he had to calm himself down mid-round on the way to clinching victory in the Nedbank Challenge for the second consecutive year.

The American carded a final round of 74 for a 12-under-par total of 276, giving him a two-shot victory over Sweden's Henrik Stenson.

Furyk had not carded a single bogey in his first three rounds but eventually dropped a shot on the third today and also bogeyed the eighth, 11th and 12th.

However, birdies on the first, sixth and ninth were enough to keep him clear of the chasing pack and he could even afford the luxury of another bogey on the 18th.

That mixed run around the turn briefly gave hope to Furyk's rivals, however none of the contenders made a run at the likeable 36-year-old and he was eventually a comfortable winner at the Sun City event.

"I was disappointed with the bogeys on 11 and 12," said Furyk, the US Open champion in 2003.

"On 11 I got fooled by the wind today. On the eighth I came up short of the green even though I hit a crisp iron shot.

"I made a very poor swing at 12, so I think that is when I kind of had to regroup and collect myself. Good pars on 13 and 14 with some really steady golf shots calmed me down a little bit."

Stenson's 69 was the lowest score on a testing last day which saw Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who started the final round in second place, struggle to a 75 to finish third on eight under.

Local favourite Ernie Els was fourth on seven under, ahead of fellow South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Retief Goosen.

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie propped up the 12-man field after a closing 76 left him 22 shots off the lead on 10 over par.

Furyk began the tournament with a 68, followed it up with 66 and then carded another 68 on Saturday.

Such a run of scores afforded him the luxury of a closing two-over 74 and he was pleased to see few low scores over the closing 18 holes.

"The course was set up well for me to go out there and play my game and put the ball on the fairway," said Furyk.

"The tough course set-up was definitely in my favour today.

"It allowed me not to play conservatively, but to make a few bogeys and not worry about it.

"I'm happy with the way I played the front nine and on the back I got a little loose and hit some bad shots.

"I might have played a little bit conservative on the back nine at times. On the front nine I kept the pedal down and played very, very well."

Collated final-round scores (Rsa unless stated, par 72):

276 Jim Furyk (USA) 68 66 68 74

278 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 71 71 69

280 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 71 65 75

281 Ernie Els 72 67 70 72

282 Charl Schwartzel 70 69 71 72

286 Retief Goosen 70 70 71 75

287 Trevor Immelman 71 69 73 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 72 76 68 71

288 Chris DiMarco (USA) 74 75 66 73

291 David Howell (Eng) 69 73 73 76

292 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 73 69 79

298 Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 75 77 70 76

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