Norwegian star wins in South Africa to creep closer to earning first Masters invite

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[Photo: Luke Walker]

Kristoffer Reitan started the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge with a five-shot lead. He’d quickly find that it wasn’t insurmountable.

RELATED: Cam Smith narrowly misses putt to force playoff as Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen wins at Royal Melbourne

The 27-year-old from Norway was looking for his second DP World Tour victory. But he made three bogeys in the first seven holes at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa, and suddenly the result was wide open. He promptly birdied the next two holes, then played the final nine holes in one-over par to shoot an even-par 72 and top Jayden Schaper and Dan Bradbury by only one shot. A bogey on the 15th hole gave him only a one-shot lead, which he held.

It’s been a breakthrough year for Reitan. He won his first DP World Tour title in May at the Soudal Open in Belgium and he also earned PGA Tour membership through the Race to Dubai standings. Reitan started the year ranked 425th in the world. Now, the Nedbank victory will certainly move him up quite a bit from his 59th position.

The top 50 at the end of the year will earn invites into the Masters and it’s expected that he will remain comfortably inside the marker. Reitan has played in the US Open and Open Championship only one time apiece. It would be his first trip to Augusta National.

“I don’t know what I’m feeling right now,” Reitan said. “I had a lot of nerves today. But to get it over the line in the end is a better feeling than I can describe.

“I’m trying my best to deal with nervousness, fear. It’s really, really difficult. I’ve managed to do that really well ever since mid-season last year. It just keeps getting increasingly more difficult, but I’m glad to have dealt with it in a good way and get this over the line. That means so much. I’m so pleased.”

It capped an impressive day for Scandinavian golf as Reitan and Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen both won DP World Tour titles. Neergaard-Petersen was able to win the Crown Australian Open when he got up and down on the final hole and Cameron Smith missed a short par putt that would’ve sent that championship into a playoff.

“I’m over the moon for Rasmus. He’s been playing so well,” Reitan said. “He’s an amazing player and he’s come close a few times and obviously he won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour. I’m really pleased to see him get his first win on the DP World Tour.”