Waterkloof, South Africa (SportsNetwork.com) - Playing on his home course, George Coetzee fired a 5-under 65 in Sunday's final round and rallied to win the Tshwane Open.
Coetzee, who grew up playing at Pretoria Country Club, finished at 14-under- par 266 for his second European Tour title. His other win also came in South Africa at the 2014 Joburg Open.
"To win at your own club in front of all your friends and family, the crowds were amazing. I could just feel the momentum building and the crowd getting bigger and bigger towards the end," Coetzee said. "It's a great experience and a very special day for me."
Jacques Blaauw fired the low round of the week, a 9-under 61, to soar into second place at minus-13. His 61 matched the course record that Hennie Otto set in 2010.
Craig Lee stumbled to a double-bogey at the last to close out an even-par 70. He shared third place at 9-under-par 271 with Dean Burmester and Tjaart van der Walt, who both carded 67s on Sunday.
Jaco Ahlers (66) and Adrian Otaegui (71) tied for sixth at minus-8, while Gregory Bourdy (66) and Robert Rock (68) were one shot further back at 7-under 273.
Coetzee, who shared the third round lead with Otaegui, Wallie Coetsee, Lee, last week's winner Trevor Fisher Jr. and David Horsey, opened with five straight pars and fell two behind Blaauw, who birdied six of seven holes from the sixth to jump to 11-under.
Otaegui birdied four of five holes from the second after an opening bogey. That moved the Spaniard into the lead at 12-under.
Coetzee started to heat up as the others cooled. He posted his first birdie of the day at the sixth, then followed a birdie on the eighth with his fourth birdie in four days at the par-5 ninth.
That burst moved him within one of Blaauw, who birdied 17 and 18 to post minus-13.
Coetzee rolled in a birdie try at the 10th, his fourth birdie in five holes, to join Blaauw in the lead. Coetzee remained tied for the lead as he ran off six straight pars from the 11th.
At the short par-4 17th, Coetzee's drive found the trees short and right of the green. However, he chipped to five feet and converted the putt for birdie and the lead.
Coetzee 2-putted for par at the last to seal the win.
"I think I've got this course down after 18 years of playing golf. I think it played to my advantage knowing when to be aggressive and when not to," Coetzee admitted. "I threw one club championship away here by playing conservative on 17, so today it was quite an easy decision to hit driver."
Otaegui made four bogeys over the final eight holes to tumble from contention.
The other third-round co-leaders, Coetsee, Fisher and Horsey, all struggled in the final round. Coetsee stumbled to a 76 to finish at minus-3, while Fisher posted a 75 to wind up at 4-under. Horsey managed a 73 to drop to minus-6.
NOTES: Coetzee collected 237,750 euros for the win ... He is expected to move inside the top-70 in the world rankings on Monday ... Last year's winner Ross Fisher carded a 3-under 67 and ended in a tie for 30th at 3-under 277 ... The European Tour heads to Madeira next week for the Madeira Islands Open, where Daniel Brooks made par on the first playoff hole last year to beat Scott Henry in an event that was cut to 36 holes by persistent fog through the week.
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