ZIMBABWEAN golfer Brendon de Jonge might have missed out on a top-10 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open which ended in San Diego on Monday, but should be smiling all the way to the bank after walking away $94 550 richer for finishing in a six-way tie for 15th. REPORT BY DANIEL NHAKANISO SPORTS REPORTER
The 32-year-old bulky golfer closed with a three-under-par 69 to finish six-under-par 282 and tied alongside Americans Hunter Mahan, Tag Ridings, Erik Compton, Steve Marino and Casey Wittenberg.
De Jonge’s performance in San Diego was his best in three outings so far on the PGA Tour this season after his position 54 at the Sony Hawaii Open and 47th at the Humana Challenge.
Having made the cut in all three tournaments he has participated in so far, De Jonge also rose to position 47th on the Fedex Cup standings.
The Harare-born golfer, who is still searching for his maiden PGA Tour win, will now shift his attention to the $6 200 000 Waste Management Phoenix Open which tees off in Scottsdale, Arizona on Thursday.
De Jonge, who missed the cut in Arizona last year, will be hoping for a better performance this time around to give himself a chance of claiming $1 098 000 prize money.
De Jonge has been the country’s leading professional golfer and last season earned more than $2 million on the PGA Tour with four top-10 finishes. Although he has given himself chances to win on several occasions entering the final round before finishing tied for third, he has yet to seal the deal.
In 2011 De Jonge combined with Bruce McDonald to lead Zimbabwe to an impressive 11th place at the 28-team Golf World Cup in Hainan, China and in so doing became the highest ranked African country at the event. Last year he was voted the country’s Sportsperson of the Year.
