Aiken caps brilliant season with win at MTC PGA

SOUTH Africa’s Thomas Aiken wrote his own piece of golfing history in Namibia on Sunday when he capped a brilliant season with an emphatic four-stroke victory at the MTC Namibian PGA Championship in Windhoek.

Despite struggling with a groin injury, there was no evidence of poor golf this week as Aiken compiled three sub-70 rounds of 64, 67 and 67 at the Windhoek Country Club course to secure his second Sunshine Tour title of the season ahead of Michiel Bothma, Sean Farrell, Keith Horne and Werner Geyer on 11-under-par 202. Andre Cruse and Peter Karmis finished in a tie for sixth on 10-under, with Wallie Coetsee and Jean Hugo a further stroke back in joint eighth.Namibia’s Trevor Dodds carded a final round 71 to finish on four-under-par 209, good enough to tie for 22nd, while Joe Nawanga faltered a little on the final day with a 74 to tie for 36th on one-under-par 212.With his victory, Aiken passed the mark he set as last year’s winter swing Order of Merit winner by R3,735 and reached a goal he set himself nearly two months ago when he claimed his first win of the season at the Telkom PGA Pro-Am.Aiken’s final score of 15-under-par 198 gave him a first place cheque of R79,250 that boosted his earnings for the season to R242,410 and has handed him an almost unassailable lead on the current Order of Merit.”Some weeks you just feel great and that’s how I felt this week,” said the 22-year old Aiken.”I felt I could win and I was in contention from the start.That makes a difference, to be in amongst it from the first day.””It’s beyond my dreams this week to have won a PGA Championship and to have past my own mark.I have been aiming for that since Centurion and I didn’t think I would get there so soon.The day was peppered with interruptions; first a hail storm and then lightning rendering the course too dangerous to play for much of the afternoon.Play was called off three times, but in the end tournament director, Theo Manyama made the call to resume and try to finish with only nine players to finish and three holes to go.Aiken, who began the final round one off the pace from Bothma, reversed a shaky bogey-bogey start by reversing the blunder with a three quick birdies at the third, fourth and sixth to claim the outright lead at the sixth.The tenacious five-time Sunshine Tour winner underpinned his intention with an eagle at the par-5 7th to widen the gap to three strokes.He strengthened his hold on the leaderboard with a fourth birdie at the 10th hole, then parred his way down the home stretch under testing circumstances, returning to the clubhouse three times in the course of the afternoon.Aiken now leads the winter swing Order of Merit by R87,000 from Desvonde Botes, who he dethroned with a second place finish at the Bearing Man Highveld Classic last weekend.It is going to take a minor miracle to un-seed Aiken, especially since he has his sights set on a successful title defence in next week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Championship at The Links, Fancourt.-Southern Africa PGA TourAndre Cruse and Peter Karmis finished in a tie for sixth on 10-under, with Wallie Coetsee and Jean Hugo a further stroke back in joint eighth.Namibia’s Trevor Dodds carded a final round 71 to finish on four-under-par 209, good enough to tie for 22nd, while Joe Nawanga faltered a little on the final day with a 74 to tie for 36th on one-under-par 212.With his victory, Aiken passed the mark he set as last year’s winter swing Order of Merit winner by R3,735 and reached a goal he set himself nearly two months ago when he claimed his first win of the season at the Telkom PGA Pro-Am.Aiken’s final score of 15-under-par 198 gave him a first place cheque of R79,250 that boosted his earnings for the season to R242,410 and has handed him an almost unassailable lead on the current Order of Merit.”Some weeks you just feel great and that’s how I felt this week,” said the 22-year old Aiken.”I felt I could win and I was in contention from the start. That makes a difference, to be in amongst it from the first day.””It’s beyond my dreams this week to have won a PGA Championship and to have past my own mark.I have been aiming for that since Centurion and I didn’t think I would get there so soon.The day was peppered with interruptions; first a hail storm and then lightning rendering the course too dangerous to play for much of the afternoon.Play was called off three times, but in the end tournament director, Theo Manyama made the call to resume and try to finish with only nine players to finish and three holes to go.Aiken, who began the final round one off the pace from Bothma, reversed a shaky bogey-bogey start by reversing the blunder with a three quick birdies at the third, fourth and sixth to claim the outright lead at the sixth.The tenacious five-time Sunshine Tour winner underpinned his intention with an eagle at the par-5 7th to widen the gap to three strokes.He strengthened his hold on the leaderboard with a fourth birdie at the 10th hole, then parred his way down the home stretch under testing circumstances, returning to the clubhouse three times in the course of the afternoon.Aiken now leads the winter swing Order of Merit by R87,000 from Desvonde Botes, who he dethroned with a second place finish at the Bearing Man Highveld Classic last weekend.It is going to take a minor miracle to un-seed Aiken, especially since he has his sights set on a successful title defence in next week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Championship at The Links, Fancourt.-Southern Africa PGA Tour