Speaking after his one-stroke victory over Oliver Goldhill and Vaughn van Deventer at the Betway Big Easy Tour 9, Van Der Merwe said the success was the result of hard work. He admitted he never imagined achieving such a remarkable feat and that it meant a great deal to him. For him, the sky is the limit. “Life happens quickly. I was thinking about it four holes ago; walking on the fairway and thinking how quickly things can happen, especially in this sport. If you work hard and forget about tournaments and results, things can happen on a blink of an eye. “Being in contention for eight weeks in a row and then missing two cuts, and then coming back, makes it way more nerve-wracking than it usually is. I was definitely shaking a bit, but I’ve got that Delmas-boy confidence and I could deal with it nicely,” said Van Der Merwe. He added: “It means a lot to me,” he said of his extraordinary achievement. “I don’t think that I would have been able to say I’d achieve all that by now. But if you work hard and focus on growth rather than the result, then the sky is the limit.” Van Der Merwe opened the championship with a five-under-par 67, which saw him take a share of the lead with Dillon Germishuys, Joe Sullivan, and Van Deventer. He followed that up with a four-under-par 68, which left him on nine-under-par 135, just a single shot behind the leader, Ander Van Zyl, on 10-under-par 134. Going into the final round one shot behind, Van Der Merwe closed with a three-under-par 69 featuring an eagle, three birdies, and a double bogey enough to claim the championship. He made a birdie and an eagle on holes one and two respectively, followed by a double bogey on the fourth. He then produced a flawless back nine, picking up two birdies on the 12th and 16th. He finished on 12-under-par 204, earning 210 Order of Merit points.