Willett Overtakes Donald to Win Nedbank Golf Challenge


While 54-hole leader and fellow Englishman Luke Donald stumbled, Danny Willett played exceptional golf, closing with a 6-under 66 to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

The 27-year-old Willett carded three birdies on each the front and back nines at the Gary Player Country Club to finish at 18-under 270, four strokes ahead of another Brit, Ross Fisher, who shot a 68, and six in front of Donald, who struggled to a 73.

The victory was Willetts' first since the BMW International Open in June 2012.

Despite not winning, Donald, who celebrated his 37th birthday on Sunday, came away from the tournament with a good attitude. "There were a lot of positives," he told the European Tour's website.

"It's nice to put myself back in position. I could have played a bit better but I still would have had to shoot five under just to tie with Danny. He played really focused golf today and hats off, he's a deserved winner."

Germany's Marcel Siem posted a 68 to take solo fourth at 9-under 379, and another stroke back was Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who also had a 68.

Miguel Angel Jimenez (69) ended up in sixth at 282, and tied for seventh at 3-under 285 were South Africans Tim Clark and Louis Oosthuizen, Sweden's Jonas Blixt and Thai player Thongchai Jaidee.

Other than Willett and a few other players, the rest of the field found the course played quite difficult, including Alexander Levy, who entered the weekend toward the top of the leaderboard at 6-under par. But in the final two rounds the Frenchman carded a 76 and a 78, with the latter score low-lighted by a 10 on the par-5 ninth hole.

The top-finishing American was Brendon Todd, who closed with a 71 and tied for 12th.

Brooks Koepka, a 24-year-old Floridian recently named the European Tour's 2014 Rookie of the Year, ended up T-19 at 291 in the 30-player event (reduced to 29 after Wales' Jamie Donaldson withdrew following the first round).

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2014095/leaderboard/index.html.