NAIROBI, July 22 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Michael Palmer braved a late charge from rivals to beat over 150 local and international golf players to win the 2018 KCB Karen Masters, which is part of the Sunshine tour tournament.
The Johannesburg-based golf pro fired an impressive last round of five under par 67 for a gross total of 18 under par 270. The tournament has had other stops in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland with a majority of the Sunshine Tour held in South Africa.
Palmer savored his first cut of the season on Friday after a second-round of six-under-par 66. He wins the blue jacket and part of the 150,000 U.S. dollars on offer.
"I am very happy. It has been a tough first half of the year and the validation of the persistence is good. The win has motivated me to go for more glory at the Sunshine Tour," Palmer told Xinhua on Sunday.
Palmer said he approached the Masters tourney with caution at the start but took an aggressive tack on Sunday to claim his win.
"I wouldn't say I was so conservative over the first two rounds, but I definitely played more into the middle of the greens much more aggressively."
Second overall was Merrick Bremner of South Africa with a gross total of -16 while Pieter Moolman and Tyrone Ryan also from South Africa finished joint third on -15.
Bremner was the day one and three leader and lost the coveted blue jacket to his compatriot Palmer by two shots. Joint fifth on a score of -13 were Martin Rohwer (South Africa) and Daniel van Tonder.
Jake Roos of South Africa, who won the Kenyan Open in 2014, finished seventh ahead of Italian Philip Geerts.
