Leishman Wins First European Tour Title at Nedbank

Marc Leishman came out on top at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Marc Leishman notched his first European Tour win, edging out Henrik Stenson by a comfortable 6 shots.

The leaderboard was fairly clustered all week, but we finally have a decisive result from the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Marc Leishman, the only player to shoot all four rounds in the 60s at Gary Player Country Club, won the event going away, topping Henrik Stenson by five strokes.

Leishman’s path to victory wasn’t quite as clear as that margin might suggest. Trailing by just two strokes after 12 holes, Stenson had every opportunity to regain some ground and make it interesting. It just wasn’t to be, though–while the Swede squared two bogeys and went played the final six holes in one-over, Leishman notched three birdies to put it out of reach.

This is a perfect conclusion to what has been an eventful year for Leishman. More than eight months ago, his wife Audrey found herself in the hospital with flu-like symptoms, which quickly turned into pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and toxic shock syndrome. Soon, she slipped into a coma–and the prognosis wasn’t good. Leishman was forced to miss a few events, including the Masters, but his wife made a speedy recovery, allowing him to return to competition in May.

Two months later, Leishman, after shooting 64 and 66 in the final two rounds, was competing in a playoff to take the Open Championship. While he lost to Zach Johnson, perspective is everything. After the ordeal that his family went through, that runner-up must have felt almost as good as a victory.

Speaking of victory, this one at the Nedbank is Leishman’s first on the European Tour. As he’s not a member, the Race to Dubai points won’t do much for him, but the Aussie will move up to around the No. 25 spot in the world rankings.

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Stenson, on the other hand, will leave South Africa with some sense of disappointment. The world No. 7 was battling an illness all week, but he still cruised through the first two rounds, opening up a lead over home crowd favorite Jaco Van Zyl. However, a couple of plain vanilla rounds–70 and 72–on the weekend cost him, and he was simply overtaken by the surging Leishman.

None of the other players were in true contention on the back nine. Englishman Chris Wood had an eventful day, squaring three bogeys on the front nine but offsetting those with a birdie on two and an eagle on nine. After making the turn, he was brilliant, circling four more birdies to finish with a 68. The marvelous effort saw him leap five spots up the leaderboard.