Thriston Lawrence, the 2021 Joburg Open champion, took a one-shot lead into the final nine holes of The Open on Sunday, 21 July and delivered an admirable performance in his first major contention.
After shooting a 4-under 32 on the front nine, he made eight pars and just a single bogey on Troon’s challenging inward half. His final-round score of 68 left him at 6-under 278, three shots behind the winner, Xander Schauffele.
“I think I did pretty well out there,” Lawrence reflected after his round. “I didn’t actually put myself under the pressure that some people are supposed to. I just looked at it as a normal Sunday of a normal golf tournament. Yes, it is The Open; it is a bigger stage. But being in that moment, I felt so calm. It felt like a normal Sunday: me trying to win a golf tournament, trying to be creative, and I managed to accomplish that. So, very proud of myself.”
A strong par-save on the 18th earned Lawrence a solo fourth-place finish, a result with significant implications for the South African. He secured a return to next year’s The Open, his first invitation to the Masters, and bolstered his chances of making this year’s President’s Cup team.
He also accrued enough non-member FedEx Cup points (325) to obtain Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour for the remainder of 2024, setting him on the path to earning his Tour card for 2025.
Lawrence’s fourth-place finish at Troon propelled him to fifth in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai standings. He is also second among players not exempt from the PGA Tour in these season-long standings. The top 10 finishers in the Race to Dubai at season’s end who are not yet exempt from the Tour will earn their PGA Tour cards for 2025.
The City of Johannesburg’s Events Management Director and Joburg Open International Golf Tournament promoter expressed excitement about Lawrence’s top-five finish at The Open.
“I’m thrilled for Thriston, particularly because he is a former Joburg Open champion. He has flown the South African flag so high in this tournament,” said Bongi Mokaba. She added that Lawrence qualified for this year’s The Open by finishing among the top 30 in the 2023 Race to Dubai, where he placed 19th in the DP World Tour’s season-long rankings, thanks to two victories.
Lawrence is a four-time winner on the DP World Tour, with two victories in South Africa: the 2021 Joburg Open and the 2022 South African Open. He also claimed the 2022 Omega European Master’s and the 2023 BMW International Open.
“In 2022, he became the first South African to win the DP World Tour’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award,” Mokaba said, her delight evident.
INFO SUPPLIED.
