Scottish golfer relishing South African Open return after top-15 finish

In a tournament won by home player Jacques Kruyswijk, Syme finished joint-13th in the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa after signing off with a 69 at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi for an eight-under-par total.

Having carded a brillaint 64 in Friday’s second round to sit inside the top ten at the halfway stage, the 29-year-old was disappointed to see his hopes of landing a maiden win dashed by a 72 in the penultimate circuit.

However, a closing effort that contained four birdies left Syme feeling satisfied with his week’s work and is now looking forward to a first Investec South African Open appearance since 2020 when it gets underway at Durban Country Club on Thursday.

“I obviously had a really good Friday but then I just couldn’t get much going over the weekend,” said Syme. “I didn’t feel I had my best stuff today but managed my round a little bit better than I did yesterday because a couple of under is not bad in these conditions. If I’d been a few shots better on Saturday, it would have been a really solid week, but it’s still a decent start to the trip down here.”

Syme, who picked up around £27,000, jumped nine spots to sit 51st in the Race to Dubai Rankings, having made six appearances so far this season and safely negotiating the cut in all but one.

“I’ve never seen it this windy,” he added of the testing conditions for this latest challenge. “It’s always quite swirly, but it was just pumping today and that made it difficult to get the distance right and further and I got caught out by that a bit on Thursday. It’s an old-style course. It’s good fun slicing it round corners and drawing it around trees, but, at the same time, it is very tricky.”

Ernie Els won the South African Open’s first staging at Durban Country Club in 1998 while ‘The Big Easy’ also triumphed in the most recent edition there in 2011.

“It’s my first time playing in the SA Open for a while and first visit to this course,” said Syme. “I’ve heard good things about it. Lucas Bjerregaard was telling me it is good and all the South African guys are raving about it, so I am looking forward to it. I have never been to Durban before, so one to check off the list.”

The Joburg Open follows the South African Open and, though not the exact same stretch of tournaments, Syme added: “I did quite well last year in this run and will try and feed off that a little bit.”

As Kruyswijk landed his maiden win after signing off with a bogey-free 67 to finish two shots ahead of Englishman John Parry, Daniel Young tied for 48th while Grant Forrest slipped to a disappointing joint-64th after a closing 79.