Leishman romps to Nedbank title

Marc Leishman won the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in South Africa by six shots to seal his first European Tour victory.

The 32-year-old Australian went into Sunday’s final round with just a slender one-shot advantage and, despite dropping a shot at the third, he turned things around emphatically with six birdies to finish with a five-under 67 to win on 19 under.

His closest challenger, world number seven, Henrik Stenson, could not maintain his challenge as the Swede fired four birdies and four bogeys in a final round 72 but kept his second place.

English duo Chris Wood and defending champion Danny Willett had to settle for third and joint-fourth respectively, with the latter 11 shots behind Leishman.

Leishman’s win capped an emotional year in which he almost lost his wife Audrey to life-threatening bacterial infection toxic shock syndrome in April.

Afterwards he told the European Tour website: “I knew it was going to be a really tough day, I knew I had to play well.

“He’s an awesome player and I knew he’d make me earn it, which he did.

“I’m really pleased that I could play as well as I did and have a little bit of a buffer there at the end.

“Golf’s a lot easier when you don’t have to make up lost ground, especially on this golf course where there’s trouble everywhere.”

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