Christian Maas savours Freddie Tait Cup win despite nervy finish

Christian Maas won the Freddie Tait Cup as the leading amateur at the Investec South African Open after a tense final round.

Maas, leading Yurav Premlall by four at 10 under par overnight, went out in 37 and though he pulled a shot back at the tenth, he followed that with two bogeys and a double.

Premlall birdied the last to finish three under, just two behind Maas – but the latter held his nerve to par his way home despite three-putting the par-five 18th.

Maas has spoken after each round about the honour of the Freddie Tait Cup, previously won by South African luminaries including Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman, but his win was tinged with a clear sense of frustration at his closing 77.

“My touch on the greens was terrible,” he said. “Three-putted on the last just to cap off my day of putting.

“To win the Freddie Tait Cup is still a highlight, I would have loved to play a lot better today and finish high up on the leaderboard but winning the Freddie Tait is not too bad, playing bad on the last day.

“Next week I’ll spend a lot more time on the putting green and hopefully get the speed dialled in, and hopefully put together four good days and not two and a half good days.”

Maas, who also won the Brabazon Trophy at the English Men's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship in May, has no immediate plans to turn professional despite his latest success.

"The year’s been great, capping it off with winning the Freddie Tait," he said.

"I thought I’d probably lost it but somebody told me coming up the 16th I was still two shots ahead, just pleased I was able to make two pars coming in.

“I think there’s still a long way to go (before turning pro). I’ve just started with college golf (in the United States) and I’m most likely going to stay the four years.”