SOUTH AFRICAN’s Jayden Schaper hit the shot of his career to beat Shaun Norris with an eagle in their playoff and win the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Royal Johannesburg on Sunday.
It was an incredible end to a day where Norris stunned the field with his 62 to set the clubhouse target at 16 under par, and Schaper then matched him on that total with a run of three birdies – including a chip-in on 16 – in his final five holes for a 67.
Playing the par-five 18th in the playoff, Schaper hit his drive into the right fairway bunker. Norris, in the middle of the fairway, hit his second to the heart of the green. Schaper responded with a rescue club out of the bunker that finished on the back edge of the green, and he holed that putt for eagle and the win.
“You come down the last in contention and wonder, could it be this week? When that putt dropped, it was that feeling that all those years of hard work have paid off, and to finally know I’d done it was so special,” said Schaper.
This is his maiden DP World Tour victory and comes a week after he finished runner-up in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player.
Perhaps even more significant is that early in his professional career in 2020 Schaper had the chance to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek and lost out to the experience of Christiaan Bezuidenhout that day. It was a devastating blow for the young professional, and it made Sunday’s victory even sweeter.
There was every bit the sense of a far more experienced and ferocious competitor at Royal Johannesburg’s East Course on Sunday as he stared down Norris in the playoff. In fact, Schaper’s bunker shot was of such a high quality that it even drew applause from the other side of the fairway from Norris.
“I saw the lie in the bunker and didn’t even care about the yardage. I had a feeling. I looked at Keagan my caddie and he knew what I was thinking. That’s the shot of my career so far,” he said.
“It’s been an incredible week. The weather was so tough with the cold and rain. But to get off to this kind of start in the new season – I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Watching from outside the ropes was his father, Ryan. Holding back his own tears, he said: “It’s amazing. Everybody always asks me when this dream with Jayden started, and it started as soon as he could walk, and it hasn’t stopped. It’s an incredible moment. The family has always stuck by Jayden through his whole career, and we just trusted for the moment that it would pay off.”
Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra finished third on 15 under par with a closing 70.
Image Getty ( 2025 Alfred Dunhill winner Jayden Schaper recorded with his curated trophy at the Royal Johannesburg Club).
