Brandon

Stone

1-over at the halfway point, Stone found himself out of contention heading into the weekend of the SA Open Championship. However, the 28-year-old took full advantage of his moving day, carding a 6-under 66 to propel himself back into the mix. It appeared early in his final round, Stone would continue to ride this wave, making an early birdie on hole No. 2. However, all momentum was halted when Stone found trouble on the par-4 sixth. Making a quadruple-bogey eight, Stone saw all of his hard work vanish in front of his very eyes. To his credit, he would battle back, playing his final 12-holes in 4-under to card a final round of 1-under 71 to finish at 6-under for the tournament.

It has been quite a whirlwind 2021 for Stone who nearly kicked it off with bang with a victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic last January. Finishing runner-up to Paul Casey, he continued his form with a T-7 result at the Qatar Masters before winning the Limpopo Championship on the Sunshine Tour in late April. Needing just one extra hole to do so, Stone outlasted his fellow countrymen of Olver Bekker, Hennie du Plessis, and Daniel van Tonder. However, in his 15 starts since his victory, Stone has gone stone-cold, missing 10 cuts in total including his last at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Looking to turn his game around, there may be no better spot than this week at the Joburg Open. Collecting top 5 finishes in his last two appearances, Stone has a way of always being a factor in South Africa and this week should be no different.

The South African wasn’t in the initially published field but he was added on Monday. He cracked the field via his positioning in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai (5th). Stone has risen those ranks largely due to a runner-up finish at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. He surrounded that big finish with missed cuts at the Abu Dhabi HSBC and Saudi International. This will be Stone’s sixth appearance in a WGC event with a T46 at the 2018-29 WGC-HSBC Champions being his best. He’s probably not a top priority for gamers this week.

All week the South African had been a bundle of energy and good vibes, repeatedly referencing his enjoyment of the course and the good memories it holds for him. He opened his final lap with a bogey-birdie exchange at the second and third, then opened the back nine with circled numbers at the tenth and 12th. He dropped a shot at the 13th, but regained it in some style at the 18th, draining a 25’0" putt from just off the green for a birdie which took him one blow clear of previous clubhouse leader Adrien Saddier. He then watched as Sami Valimaki did exactly the same to force a play-off. At the first extra hole he needed to drain a nasty four-footer to extend the play-off and did so. Pars by both players at the second time of asking sent them back to the tee. “Deja vu,” quipped Stone, who then dragged his approach left, failed to scramble par, and came up short.

The South African loves Al Mouj Golf and his third circuit this week was eerily similar to his first. Both times he went 34-33, both times he made no errors, both times he had two birdies on the front and three on the back, he even ticked three of the same holes (7, 10 and 14). On this day he also circled the third and 16th (the latter with an up-and-down from a greenside bunker) to slide into that massed pack at the head of the scoring. “Very solid and consistent,” he said afterward. “Bogey-free which is sensational for me. Three amazing days on a great golf course.” The 26-year-old will chase a fourth European Tour win on Sunday. The six lead Guido Migliozzi by one.

After his first round 67 the South African was effusive about the course and the state of his game. “I’m always going to have a soft spot for this golf course,” he said. “It’s where I earned my playing rights from the Challenge Tour and I love the course, it’s in my top five in the world, if I’m being honest. Last year was fantastic for me, even though the results weren’t there, because we put a lot of structure in place, physically and mentally, to transform me as a person as well as a golfer. My game feels fantastic and I’m feeling physically the best I ever have.” Useful info, maybe, given, as he says, results don’t reflect his confidence. Round two was harder work, but he scrapped hard. He dropped shots at the fourth, seventh, ninth and 15th, but made gains at the third, tenth, 13th and two of them at the par-5 12th when he sent his approach to kick-in range to grab an eagle-3.

The South African has posted MC (2018) and T31 (2019) in the two editions of the Oman Open but does have some notable course form via a pair of top sixes in two starts here on the Challenge Tour. He shot four 68s across those events in 2013 and 2015 so this is his low lap of the course by one. He ticked 10, 14 and 18 on his opening nine and added two more circles coming home, draining a bomb at 4 and holing from 15 feet at 7. The latter was his only gain on the four par 5s so Stone may think there’s more to come. We last saw him on the European Tour with MC in Saudi but he’s played three home Sunshine Tour events since then, recording a T19 and a T10 at last week’s Southern Africa Tour Championship.

The local man shot 14-under to finish two shots clear of Christiaan Bezuidenhout at Glendower Golf Club four years ago and record his first European Tour win. He’s since added two more - the Alfred Dunhill Championship (again on home soil) in 2016/17 and the 2018 Scottish Open when shooting a final-round 60. Stone suffered a dip in 2019 but came on strong again at the end of the campaign, finishing runner-up at the Portugal Masters and signing off with T13 in Mauritius. Gamers considering getting him on board will be pleased by this line from his press conference this week: “The game feels great,” he said. “I didn’t really take December off - I kind of stayed in Centurion and played a lot of courses around Gauteng.” Stone was T7 at this week’s venue last season so looks to have some strong credentials.

That’s tied for top spot with Calum Hill (one to complete) and a shot ahead of Sihwan Kim, who has two 67s. South Africans have won both editions of this event at Heritage and Stone is in great position to extend that sequence to three after another impressive display. He set the tone Friday morning with a pair of par breakers out of the gate and added another birdie at 14. On his second nine, Stone ticked 2, 3 and 6 to hit 12-under although he gave a shot back at his penultimate hole after needing four swings on the par-3 8th. There are several in the afternoon session who could yet go past him but Stone, a runner-up at the Portugal Masters two starts ago, will enter the weekend in strong position to have a crack at a fourth European Tour win

That afternoon lap which featured seven birdies and just one bogey secured T1 alongside Rasmus Hojgaard, Benjamin Hebert, Romain Langasque and Grant Forrest. Stone is a three-time winner on the European Tour and finished runner-up at the Portugal Masters two starts ago. He also brought some tournament form to the table having finished sixth on his only appearance at this event at Anahita in 2016. He certainly enjoyed his first look at Heritage GC today and made four birdies in his opening seven holes (1, 2, 5 and 7). Stone dropped a shot at 10 but hit back with circles at 14, 15 and, finally, at the par-5 18th to tie the lead.