Christiaan Bezuidenhout closed with a five-under-par 67 on Sunday to take fifth place in the European Tour’s flagship tournament, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The world number 44 started badly with a bogey on the opening hole, but he rectified things spectacularly with an eagle three on the fourth. It was his second eagle of the week on that hole, and it got his scoring going in the right direction. He picked up another shot on the ninth with a birdie there, and then, as he did in his third round, picked up the tempo with birdies on 11, 13 and 18.
That saw him finish the tournament on 17-under-par, two shots behind winner Billy Horschel, Bezuidenhout’s playing partner who made a superb birdie on the 18th to finally take the lead. Horschel won by one from Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Jamie Donaldson and Laurie Canter. Bezuidenhout broke out of a logjam with Justin Rose and Andrew Johnston in a share of fifth with a good birdie of his own on 18. And he could have been 18-under after his approach to 11 somehow stayed out of the hole for what would have been a brilliant eagle.
Behind him, Dean Burmester carded a fourth successive 70 to move to eight-under for the tournament and a share of 30th. Justin Walters, who had such a good third round, slipped to a three-over 75 in the final round to finish on seven-under in a share of 35th. Brandon Stone had a one-under 71 to close, and was on six-under in a share of 45th. George Coetzee had a tough final round, signing for a seven-over 79 to finish in 75th on one-over for the tournament.
