American Johannes Veerman confirmed his return to form with victory in the DP World Tour’s Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.
In a week of testing scoring conditions, Veerman posted a final round of 3-under-par 69 at the Gary Player Country Club to set a clubhouse target of 5-under 283 which no one could match. He earned $1.024 million from the $6 million prize fund.
England’s Matthew Jordan, France’s Romain Langasque and South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter shared second on 4-under, with Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen alone in fifth a further shot back.
American Max Homa, the defending champion, faded to a tie for 14th after having set the first-round pace at 66.
Veerman feared he had blown his chances of victory with a three-putt bogey at the par-3 16th hole, but ultimately it was his ability to play the brutal closing par-4s at 17 and 18 to secure his 69 that made the difference. He was the only player among the top 30 after three rounds (and one of only four in the entire field) to add a sub-70 score on Sunday.
Born in Orange County, California, to an Indonesian mother and Dutch father, the 32-year-old Veerman has lived in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, China and England as well as the States, where he studied medicine while competing in golf at Texas A&M. His game has been as well-travelled as his early life.
He kicked off his career on the second-tier Asian Development Tour, progressed to the Asian Tour, and used that circuit as a base to win a DP World Tour card. He won the 2021 Czech Masters before his progress was stalled by a loss of form.
He dug deep, totalling 11 top 20s in the 2024 season. Tears came when he was asked what had turned his results around. “I put a lot of work in,” he said. “Me and my team put in countless hours, so to start off this season [2025] with a win is indescribable.”
Of the contenders, none will be hurting more than Potgieter. The 20-year-old was born in South Africa, brought up in Western Australia and at age 17 in 2022 became the second-youngest winner of the Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s. Earlier this year, he won the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, becoming the youngest-ever winner on the Korn Ferry Tour in the process at 19 years, 133 days. Two weeks later, he carded a 59 in the Astara Golf Championship in Panama. In October, he earned his first PGA Tour card by making an up-and-down from off the green at the final hole of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship when failure to do so would have seen graduation slip from his fingers.
Potgieter led by three strokes heading into the final round and made an early double bogey at the par-4 third before righting the ship. However, a triple bogey at the par-3 12th, plus dropped shots at 16 and 18, destroyed his hopes of winning a tournament referred to by the locals as “Africa’s major.”
In the quest to end the year in the world’s top 50, and with it earn an invitation to play the Masters, Olesen found that his fifth-place finish will not be enough to radically alter his pre-tournament ranking of 71st. Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes was 57th in the world at the start of the week, and Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard stood 58th. In finishing T6 and T24, respectively, they will remain outside the magic mark.
Matt Cooper