Paul Dunne secured his best finish turning pro in late 2015 by sharing sixth place in the Tshwane Open in Pretoria.
Dunne posed a final round five under 66 for a 12-under par tally in his 34th Tour event.
However, the Greystones golfer clearly must have lamented his opening 73 when he posted six bogeys but then just five shots over the following three rounds and capping his final day’s play with three birdies in succession from the seventh.
Dunne then muscled his way into sixth on the back of three birdies over his closing five holes to earn a prize cheque for Euro 35,722 and move to 50th on the Race to Dubai with earnings this year of Euro 90,432.
South African Dean Burmester won a sixth pro title carding a closing 65 to win by three shots at 18-under par.
Paul Dunne 6th in 2017 Tshwane Open and his highest finish since turning pro. (Photo – European Tour)
The victory could take him into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking and means that South Africans have dominated in winning four of five Tshwane Open’s.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve had an amazing summer and last week was a frustrating day for me on Sunday and it didn’t go my way but then my family and everyone who supported me said ‘we’re coming up next week so you better win in front of us’ and I’m glad to have done that.
“I sharpened my teeth as a youngster on the Big Easy Tour here at home and I think I had five seconds in one year and then two years later I had four wins on the Sunshine Tour.
“It’s gone strength to strength and now I’m a European Tour winner and that sounds great.”
The 27-year old South African had narrowly failed to gain his European Tour card at the 2016 Q-School but now with his victory Burmester will be exempt to the end of 2018.
And former Ryder Cup star Edoardo Molinari got with spirit of proposed new changes to the game announced by the R &A last week with he and playing partner Keenan Davidse completing their last rounds seven minutes short of three hours.
Molinari tweeted: “Hey, could this be one of the quickest rounds ever? 2h 53mins for 18 holes in a 2-ball. And we both shot under par”.
