Cannon fires to victory in Kempton Park

England’s Chris Cannon tasted victory for the first time on the Big Easy Tour when he signed for 12-under-par 132 to win the Big Easy Tour Kempton Park event by two strokes on Thursday.

“Yes, I’m very pleased to have got the job done. Very pleased with the win here,” said Cannon, adding, “I feel like I have been moving in the right direction and my play is getting better and better. So I am looking forward to Zambia (Mopani/Redpath Zambia Open) next week.”

The 30-year-old has not had a great start to the new season and has failed to make the cut in his first two starts in Zimbabwe and Zambia. He then failed to qualify for the Investec Royal Swazi open a few weeks ago but has bounced back in style on the Sunshine Tour’s development tour. Round one saw him sign for five-under-par 67, while a much improved showing in Kempton Park delivered a low seven-under 65 to win the title.

He says most aspects of his game are on song and that brings confidence to his game. “I think everything has been improving. I mean, I have certainly been putting well and my wedge shots have been much better as well this week,” he said. “So, it’s just a general overall improvement and also mentally, I have been very focused.”

Pieter Kruger, the former champion, had to make do with a share of second spot with overnight leader, Jacques P de Villiers, on 10-under-par. He will feel that shot he dropped on that par-four 15^th could have secured him a successful title defence but that bogey spoilt what could have been a perfect round for him.

Riekus Nortje took fourth place on nine-under-par 135 while sharing fifth was Wynand Dingle, Teagan Moore and Combrinck Smit on eight-under 136. The top 10 was completed by Botswana’s Stuart Smith, American Zack Byrd, Chilean Antonio Costa and member of the Gary Player Class of 2017-18 Irvin Mazibuko, who all finished on seven-under par.