truebluefan

Home favourite Richard Sterne will attempt to become the first player since Seve Ballesteros in 1986 to win three consecutive tournaments on The European Tour International Schedule when he defends his Joburg Open title this week.

Sterne heads to the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club in the South African capital in superb form having triumphed in both the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open Championship in December.

If he can complete a trilogy of wins in his homeland he will equal a piece of history stretching back nearly a quarter of a century, with the legendary Ballesteros the last player to achieve a hat-trick when he won The Irish Open, the Monte Carlo Open and the Open de France consecutively in 1986. Nick Faldo, in 1983, is the only other player to achieve three consecutive wins on The European Tour International Schedule so Sterne this week has the chance to join two of the most iconic names ever to grace the game.

Sterne defeated Sweden’s Magnus A Carlsson and fellow South African Garth Mulroy on the second extra hole 12 months ago to land the 2008 Joburg Open title after a superb final round 65 left him level with the pair on 13 under par 271.

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