Scott Jamieson suffers nightmare finish in Tshwane Open

Scott Jamieson chips onto the second green during the final round of the Tshwane Open at Pretoria Country Club. Picture: Warren Little/Getty Images

Sharing the lead at the start of the day, Jamieson saw his bid for a second Tour triumph on South African soil end in bitter disappointment following a costly collapse over the closing 18 holes.

As Burmester carded a second consecutive 65 to claim a three-shot success on 18-under at Pretoria Country Club, the Scot finished  12 shots behind in joint 22nd after slumping to a closing 78 – his worst score of the season.

Jamieson, who’d played brilliantly from tee to green in carding opening rounds of 67, 65 and 68, got off to the worst possible start as he pulled his tee shot at the first close to a tree before catching his approach fat at the next then duffing a flop shot into a bunker.

A bogey-bogey start left him on the back foot, especially after Burmester had come flying out of the blocks with three successive birdies, and the 33-year-old’s hopes of adding to his 2013 Nelson Mandela Championship win quickly went down the drain.

Jamieson missed a short par putt at the fourth after leaving his first attempt woefully short, found a water hazard over the green as he ran up a double-bogey 5 at the eighth before spilling four shots in two holes at the 12th and 13th. Despite two birdies in the last five holes, the Glaswegian, who’d talked after Saturday’s round about having struggled with the pace of the greens over the first three days, ended up signing for his worst score since taking a 79 in the second round of the French Open last July.

Burmester, who was born in Harare but represents South Africa, was six shots clear at one point before running up two late bogeys, the 26-year-old winning by three in the end from Finn Mikko Korhonen (67) and Spaniard Jorge Campillo (68). American Peter Uihlein was a shot further back after a closing 66, while Swede Alexander Bjork, the other co-leader overnight, finished fifth on his own thanks to a last-hole birdie.

“I can’t believe it,” said Burmester, a six-time winner on the Sunshine Tour who had underlined his potential when finishing fourth in the BMW SA Open in January then seventh in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship the following week. “I sharpened my teeth as a youngster on the Big Easy Tour at home and I think I had five seconds in one year. Two years later I won four times on the Sunshine Tour. I’ve gone from strength to strength and now I’m a European Tour winner, which feels great.”

After a closing 68, Richie Ramsay finished as top Scot in joint 12th on nine-under, two ahead of Duncan Stewart (70) and three better than both Jamieson and Marc Warren (73). David Drysdale’s 72 left him on three-under.