/ 4 April 2000

KAPLAN IN FIVE-SHOT COMEBACK WIN

RICHARD Kaplan produced one of the Vodacom Tour’s most impressive final day comebacks to wipe out a five shot deficit on overnight leader Callie Swart and win the FNB Botswana Open, and a cheque for R28260, at the Gaborone Sun on Saturday. Kaplan began the day in joint 15th place on four-under par 138 and, far from threatening the leaders early on, the 38-year-old dropped another shot on the par three third hole and lay six shots off the pace after six holes with the leaders just teeing off. His comeback started at the seventh, however, and he birdied three holes in a row to turn in 34. He then birdied four of the final five holes, including the final three, to draw level with Swart at the top of the leaderboard with Swart playing the 15th. The Silverlakes professional then overclubbed at the 130 metre par-three 17th, chipped back but failed to hole out from ten feet for his par. When his 15 foot birdie putt at the last also slipped past the hole Kaplan won a tournament he lost in a play-off two years ago and also ended a nightmare 12 months in which he slipped from third to 63rd on the Vodacom Tour money list and lost his exempt status.