Paul Boshoff claimed a historic eight-shot victory on Thursday in the eighth tournament of the Betway Big Easy Tour that was played at Waterkloof Golf Club, making it two wins in two weeks in the process.
A final round 63 which included three eagles, five birdies and two bogeys took Boshoff’s total for the week to 21-under-par 63, some distance clear of Xander Basson who had led proceedings since Tuesday.
“You don’t always know if you have a 63 in you,” said a happy Boshoff. “I didn’t really have a number today but at the beginning of the week, I sort of had 20-under in my head as a goal for myself. There are a lot of birdies here to be made. I have a really good process and I was just going out to play 18 good holes and see what happens.”
Boshoff was two shots off Basson’s lead at the start of the final round and with some work to do, seeing how well Basson was playing. In the end, the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate player Boshoff took his second victory on tour and the second over Basson this season. His feat made him the first player to win back-to-back since the tour returned under the Sunshine Tour banner.
“That’s obviously an honour I will keep,” he said of being the first man to win twice in a row on the circuit. “It’s so hard to explain that my game has been good for so long and obviously, last week gave me a lot of confidence. More confidence in the process that I am following, that I am actually doing the right things. So, I just said into the week, just copy and paste and do the same things. I got the same results, so it shows that what I am doing is working and I am very happy right now.”
Boshoff was third on the Order of Merit at the start of the week, thanks to his win at CMR Golf Club last week. Thursday’s win catapulted him to the summit of those rankings with four events left in the campaign. The top 12 players on the standings after the season concludes will earn their Sunshine Tour playing privileges for the season ahead, and Boshoff has placed himself in pole position to be among those players.
“It means a lot to be up there,” he said. “It’s the reason all of us are here: to move up to the Sunshine Tour. I want to say that it’s almost secured now. I am obviously going to try to win as much as I can and finish this season as high as I can and play good golf. But, yeah, I am already preparing my game for next season. There is a level up and I just want to be ready for that.”
While Basson will feel a little gutted at losing out twice within as many weeks – and after he has been playing some of his best golf – he will be happy with his position on the Order of Merit. Despite that victory remaining elusive, Basson has shot up to second on those Order of Merit and he too will be thinking about the prospect of teeing it up among the elite in the 2025-26 season.