The 23-year-old was in a class of his own in Sunday’s final round as he produced some of the finest ball-striking under pressure to close with a 64 and win by six shots on 17 under par. Louis de Jager took second place on 11 under with a final round of 67.

The victory by Germishuys makes it a hat-trick of first-time winners on the Sunshine Tour in the first three tournaments of the new season after the victories of Herman Loubser and Albert Venter.

“It’s an emotional first win for me because I’ve worked so hard for everyone who has supported me. I’m really glad that I got it over the line,” said Germishuys, who had to break his car window on the Saturday morning of this tournament just to get his clubs out after losings his car keys.

“I lost my car keys on Friday, so on Saturday morning I had to break my car window to get my clubs. I’m leaving my car here and driving back with a friend because I’m flying to Prague on Monday evening for a tournament, so my fiancé will come and collect my car for me,” said Germishuys.

The young star has come close to breaking through on the Sunshine Tour on several occasions, and he used those experiences in the final round.

“I had nothing to lose. I’ve been in contention a couple of times and I kind of knew what to do. I thought if I could just go three under or four under I would be happy. And I managed to go eight under. When I could attack the flags I did so, and when I had to go for the middle of the green I did that too, and luckily I holed a couple of big putts.”

The biggest of those was a monstrous 75-footer on the 16th green for birdie.

“I don’t think I’ve hit the ball as well as I have under this kind of pressure. We pitched the ball on every single spot on the green where my caddie Rasta and I wanted to.”

Apart from a unique iron ore trophy from Anglo American and Kumba Iron Ore, Germishuys also won his weight in braai meat from one of the local sponsors, Best Food Forever. Asked during the prizegiving presentation how much he weighs, Germishuys responded, “If it’s for the braai meat, then I weigh 200 kilograms.”

Scores:

271 - Deon Germishuys 66 71 70 64

277 - Louis de Jager 72 71 67 67

278 - Jacques Blaauw 68 68 73 69, Hennie O'Kennedy 71 69 67 71

279 - CJ du Plessis 69 68 73 69

280 - Rupert Kaminski 69 70 73 68, Lyle Rowe 70 70 72 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 66 70 74

281 - Jean Hugo 70 69 74 68, MJ Viljoen 70 69 73 69, Jaco Van Zyl 68 72 71 70, Erhard Lambrechts 71 71 68 71, Jaco Ahlers 69 68 70 74

282 - Riekus Nortje 69 69 74 70

283 - Combrinck Smit 74 66 76 67, Keith Horne 74 71 72 66, Danie Van Niekerk 67 72 74 70, Hayden Griffiths 68 69 74 72, Bradley Bawden 66 71 73 73, Louis Albertse 67 67 75 74

284 - Jaco Prinsloo 72 67 75 70, Dan Erickson 68 72 73 71

285 - Dylan Naidoo 71 69 74 71, Alex Haindl 69 69 75 72, Byron Coetzee 69 72 71 73

286 - Keagan Thomas 70 73 74 69, Matias Calderon 71 72 74 69, Herman Loubser 75 70 68 73, Dylan Mostert 71 68 73 74

287 - Ockie Strydom 66 72 74 75, Ryan Van Velzen 69 70 71 77

288 - Michael Hollick 75 70 71 72, Jake Redman 70 69 76 73, Neil Schietekat 72 71 72 73, Martin Rohwer 72 68 78 70

289 - Ruan de Smidt 70 76 70 73, Pieter Moolman 66 69 78 76, Joe Long 69 70 79 71, Andre Van Dyk 75 69 74 71, Malcolm Mitchell 67 71 74 77

290 - Adilson Da Silva 68 72 78 72, Franklin Manchest 73 68 73 76, Quintin Wilsnach 74 70 76 70

291 - Sean Cronje 74 71 71 75, Sean Bradley 70 72 74 75, Maverick Faber 71 74 72 74, Clinton Grobler 68 71 79 73, Jason Smith 74 70 75 72

292 - Chris Cannon 72 72 73 75, Jacques P de Villiers 76 67 72 77, Keenan Davidse 73 73 71 75, Stephen Ferreira 68 72 73 79, Madalitso Muthiya 68 77 76 71, Yubin Jung 74 68 80 70

293 - Jacquin Hess 69 74 75 75, Jared Harvey 70 76 75 72, JJ Senekal 75 71 76 71

294 - Divan van den Heever 72 72 74 76, Hennie Otto 74 70 74 76, Rourke van der Spuy 72 74 72 76

295 - Harry Konig 71 72 78 74, Makhetha Mazibuko 70 74 77 74, Ryan Cairns 73 73 76 73

297 - Dean O'Riley 75 71 75 76

298 - Brooklin Bailey 68 78 80 72

299 - Christiaan Basson 74 71 79 75

301 - Chris Swanepoel 71 75 83 72

302 - Peter Karmis 72 74 79 77

303 - Gerrit Foster 71 75 84 73

310 - Siyanda Mwandla 75 71 85 79