DAVID FEHERTY birdied two of the last three holes to share second place with Ernie Els in the weather affected South African PGA at Houghton Golf Club yesterday. Els and Feherty were at 11 under par through 54 holes, three shots behind first time tournament winner Sven Struver who finished on 202.
German Struver shot a brilliant nine under par 63 on Sunday to post a target for the more illustrious names, who did not manage to complete 18 holes before lightning and rain drove the players off the course.
At that point Els and Feherty had started the par five 12th. Returning for a 9.0 a.m. start yesterday Els failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker and leaked his drive at the 13th into the right hand rough. His bogey, bogey start virtually ended his challenge, although birdies at the next two holes gave him fresh hope.
Els missed putts on the 16th and 17th while Feherty birdied the same two holes to pull level with the world number three. Struver said that he was never certain of his victory overnight. "Ernie always goes one better and if I can make six birdies in seven holes it's for sure that he can make four in six to win the tournament," he said.
Feherty's finish gave him £27,675 and a new lease on a golfing life that recently had seemed to be heading towards commentating on the game rather than playing it.
"Of course I'd love to have won", Feherty said, "but to have played this well this early in the year, I'm really over the moon. South Africa has been a second home for me for many years now and I'm delighted to have done so well amongst friends."
It was a good tournament all round for the Irish with Paul McGinley, Ronan Rafferty, Des Smyth and Eamonn Darcy all bracketed between five and seven under for the three rounds.
Smyth's topsy turvy round, which included five bogeys, five pars, four birdies and an eagle, concluded in the most unexpected fashion with four straight pars yesterday morning as he shot a 71 for 209.
Darcy had a 73 for 210 and McGinley a 69 for 211. But the strongest finish came from Rafferty with a 67 after opening rounds of 74 and a 69.
