By Shamaoma Musonda –
MADALITSO Muthiya yesterday won his first title on the Sunshine Tour, taking a shot win at the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament played at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club in South Africa.
This maiden victory was a fulfillment of the huge promise he has shown on the Sunshine Tour over the last three years and was helped by a four-under-par 66 on the closing day that left his challengers in his wake.
That wind-swept final round of four-under-par 66 took his three-day total to 11-under-par, a two stroke win over Hennie du Plessis and Ockie Strydom.
This showing handed the Lusaka Golf Club player a winner’s cheque of R110,950 (about K78, 000) and a boost to 37th on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.
“I was very proud of myself, I stayed within the plan that I had when I started out the round, and I managed to play well enough on a very tough day,” he told sunshinetour.com
Opening the day on seven under-par, Muthiya got a birdie each on the first three holes which brought him to 10-under but dropped a shot on the fourth.
He played par on the next six holed before picking up a birdie on the 11th before adding one more birdie to his fine run on the 16th and seal the victory.
He not only played well enough to ward of the challenge of the runners-up, but he also held off a charge from Jean Hugo, who has won 11 times on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series.
Hugo drew level with Muthiya at the 12th with a good birdie into the strong wind on the tough par-five, but a double-bogey on the 13th put a dent on the chances of a 12th title for Hugo.
“I had no clue what happened to him (Hugo) on 13. I made a clutch putt on 13, and another one on 16. I didn’t hit a good chip shot there and I holed out from 20 feet for birdie. I think that was probably the deciding moment for me,” he said.
Just before Muthiya made that birdie, Du Plessis had used the wind from behind on the par-five 16th to reach the green in two, and his 12-foot eagle putt dropped to put him level with Muthiya for a while.
Muthiya not letting himself get carried away with the win said he is obviously going to learn from it and try and carry the confidence forward.
“I want to build on the strengths I have and rectify the mistakes I made.But all in all, I think I handled myself pretty well, and that certainly applies moving forward,” he said.