SUNDAY JANUARY 15, 2017 - BMW SA OPEN HOSTED BY CITY OF EKURHULENI
GRAEME STORM
• His second European Tour International Schedule victory in his 419th official European Tour event.
• Moves to 204,708 points in the Race to Dubai.
• Could move to just outside the top 130 in the Official World Golf Ranking from 251st.
• His first European Tour victory since the 2007 Alstom Open de France. This is a gap of nine years and 198 days between victories.
• During the gap of nine years and 198 days has played in 274 European Tour events between victories.
• Since his 2007 victory this win beats his previous best performance in that time period, of second at the 2008 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, 2014 Omega European Masters and 2015 Porsche European Open.
• This victory beats his previous best 2017 season performance of tied fourth in the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
• This is the first time he has amassed two top four finishes in the same season since 2009.
• Victory comes in his seventh appearance in the BMW SA Open hosted by City of Ekurhukeni.
• Victory beats his previous best performance in the event of tied fourth in 2005.
• Becomes the second Englishman to win South Africa’s national Open since the event became part of the European Tour in 1997, following Andy Sullivan in 2015.
• Both of his European Tour wins have been in national Opens – the Open de France and the South African Open.
• Has now won two of the oldest seven national Open Championships in world golf – the Open de France (seventh oldest – 1906) and South African Open (second oldest – 1893).
OTHER FACTS
• Becomes the 310th English victory in European Tour history.
• Becomes the first English winner of the 2017 season.
• This victory extends England’s record of being the only country to win on the European Tour in every year since the Tour’s first season in 1972.
• Gains a European Tour exemption until the end of the 2018 season.
• Gains his fourth victory as a professional.
• The second former Challenge Tour player to win on the European Tour in the 2017 season. They Brandon Stone (Alfred Dunhill Championship) and Graeme Storm (BMW SA Open hosted by City of Ekurhukeni).
• Becomes the 393rd European Tour victory by a former Challenge Tour player.
