Hot putter earns Tipping first Blue Label title at Waterkloof

Veteran Ryan Tipping credited a hot putter for his six-under-par 66 in the first one-day tournament of the Blue Label Development Tour which earned him a two-stroke victory over Coert Groenewald at Waterkloof Golf Club on Monday.

“I finally found my putter,” said Tipping after his round, detailing what worked best for him in the first event of this 10-tournament series. “I’ve searched for a very long time and maybe six weeks ago, I found it and I just stuck with it. It just seems to make putting a lot easier when you stick with one putter. Today, I made some nice putts; not long ones but the important putts that I needed to make.”

Tipping bogeyed the first hole at Waterkloof but swiftly recovered with a birdie on two before making four pars on the trot to maintain an even-par start to this series which is another Sunshine Tour innovation aimed at providing more playing opportunities for Tour members. He got another birdie on the par-five seventh which was followed by a par. Then, Tipping found more joy as he went on a four-birdie run which began on the ninth through to the 12^th.

His run was halted by another drop, this time on 13, but Tipping stayed in the moment; birdieing the 14^th before another unwanted bogey visited his scorecard. Tipping was not going to panic, however, and after making pars on 16 and 17, the veteran sealed his win with an eagle on the last to sign for a 66 in cold conditions.

“You have to treat these types of tournaments like the Pre-Qualifiers on the Sunshine Tour; no room for mistakes,” said Tipping. “You have to make as many birdies as possible. I think I played well today. I think I played nicely last time too, and I just kept it going today. I am happy with this win.”

Tipping’s win in Pretoria would have also gone a long way in consoling him for his one-shot defeat to Gerhard Pepler in the last Altron Big Easy Tour event which was held at Soweto Country Club last month.

“We are very grateful that Blue Label has come on board to bring us this series,” added Tipping who plays out of Randpark Golf Club. “This gives us the opportunity to keep honing our skills to become the best players we can be and there’s no better way to do that than in a competition.”

Groenewald’s 68 was enough only to see him take a runners-up finish on Monday while member of the Papwa Sewgolum Class, Makhetha Mazibuko carded a 69 to finish third. American Kevin Rhoderick, Portugal’s Carlos Laranja, Papwa Sewgolum Class member, Allister de Kock and Nicholaus Frade shared fourth o two-under-par 70.

All 10 tournaments in the series will be played in Gauteng and there will be no entry fees required from the participating players.