Staff WriterKieran Vincent might have taken the scenic route, but the Zimbabwean golfer still arrived in style—lifting his second Sunshine Tour trophy with a nervy, gritty, and ultimately triumphant four-stroke win at the Waterfall City Tournament of Champions at Royal Johannesburg.
In a round that featured everything from out-of-bounds tee shots to a back-nine birdie blitz, Kieran Vincent closed with a rollercoaster 70, finishing 18 under par to seal the win over South Africa’s Daniel van Tonder, who came home in 14 under after a final-round 70 of his own. Pieter Moolman grabbed solo third at 13 under with a tidy 69.
Vincent’s scorecard on Sunday looked more like a thriller than a spreadsheet. The real drama? A gut-wrenching nine on the par-four third hole.
“Well the first one went out of bounds and the second one followed suit,” Vincent admitted, sounding far too calm for someone who just detonated a par-four. “Once the second one goes out of bounds you start to get really nervous.”
You don’t say.
But where most would spiral into chaos, Kieran Vincent clawed back, showing the sort of bounce-back swagger usually reserved for grizzled veterans. The turning point wasn’t just technical—it was mental.
“But me and my team have been talking about fighting for a while, and that’s what was ringing in my head,” he said. “Walking off the third green towards the fourth tee, I told myself the only way we can go through this is if we fight.”
Fight, he did. With seven birdies over the composite nine-hole setup—a quirk of this tournament’s format—Vincent staged a comeback worthy of slow-motion replays and swelling orchestral music.
It wasn’t just about winning; it was about character, composure, and a clear refusal to crumble.
“Credit to my team throughout the last couple of months for instilling a lot in me to be able to fight like the way we did today,” Vincent said. “A lot goes on when you play a nine-hole loop and it’s my first time doing that. I really enjoyed it. All in all, it was a great day.”
A great day, indeed. And it was nearly capped off in dramatic fashion by Van Tonder, who rolled in an eagle on the last to secure second—though by then, Vincent had already reclaimed control of the chaos.
Elsewhere on the leaderboard, Tandi McCallum finished as the leading Sunshine Ladies Tour professional.
Her one-under total, capped with a final-round 72, showed plenty of promise as she held her own on a track that offered no free passes.
But make no mistake—this was Kieran Vincent’s day. A day that began with calamity, flirted with collapse, but ultimately ended with champagne and a second tour win.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t perfect. But it was pure theatre. And in golf, that often counts for more.
