Ryan van Velzen overcame a difficult start to his final round to seal a maiden HotelPlanner Tour title at the Challenge de España.
The South African, who was two over par through the first five holes of his final round at Isla Canela Links, battled to a two under 69 to reach 17 under par for the week, two shots clear of Dutchman Wil Besseling and American Dan Erickson who shared second place.
Starting the day one shot ahead of Erickson and Englishman Jamie Rutherford, the 24-year-old appeared to settle well with a birdie on the opening par five. However, three bogeys in his next four holes dropped the South African back down the clustered leaderboard.
Two birdies before the turn steadied the ship before two back nine gains saw Van Velzen regain his position at the summit, with a routine par on the last closing out a memorable week.
“This feels amazing,” he said. “I started off badly today and thought I’d blown it but I kept myself composed and made a couple of birdies to keep myself in it and then was super solid on the back nine.
“It was a bit of a shock to this system on the front nine; that nine has caught me out a couple of times this week. Level is normally a good score on that side, I think it’s a tougher nine.
“I back myself on that back nine. You can go low there, and I was surprised nobody went low. It was nice to see where I was, I like seeing where I am on the leaderboard.”
Van Velzen is a two-time Sunshine Tour winner having triumphed at the 2023 Limpopo Championship and 2024 Mediclinic Invitational, as well as topping the Order of Merit the same year.
This win marks Van Velzen’s first victory outside the Rainbow Nation and the 24-year-old believes his game is now ready to compete more regularly on European soil.
“The game is close to something really good and I’m excited to play next week in Switzerland and the rest of the season," he added.
“This gives me a bit of leeway where I can maybe go and play some DP World Tour events if I have a few more good weeks out here, which will be good.”
Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo ends the week in solo fourth on 14 under, one stroke clear of Rutherford and American Charles Huntzinger who share fifth.
The win sees Van Velzen rise 20 places to fourth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, with his countryman MJ Daffue still occupying the Number One berth. Spain’s Pablo Ereno retains second place, with Englishman Will Enefer in third.
The Road to Mallorca now heads to Switzerland for the Swiss Challenge at Golf Sempach, Lucerne, taking place from June 4-7.
