Cockerill finishes top four playing with big boys Els, Oosthuizen

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This article was published 11/12/2022 (1356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As he gets closer to experiencing one of the best moments of his personal life, Aaron Cockerill has added yet another highlight to his professional one.

Manitoba’s top professional golfer fired a final round three-under 69 on Sunday to grab a share of fourth place in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa. The Stony Mountain product birdied three of the last six holes to surge up the leaderboard, earning nearly $92,000 in the process.

Cockerill, 30, finished the DP World Tour event at 14-under (70-65-70-69). That left him four strokes back of Ockie Strydom, who captured the event in his home country. There were several notable names in the tournament, including Louis Oosthuizen (13-under) and Ernie Els (six-under).

This was the third stop of the 2023 season, which runs through next November and includes 44 total events. Cockerill missed the cut two weeks ago in the Joburg Open, then finished tied for 35th last week at the Investec South African Open.

He currently sits 22nd on the DP World Tour rankings. Cockerill began the tournament ranked 395th in the world, which is sure to jump today when the latest update is released.

Cockerill is looking to build on a breakthrough 2022 campaign in which he finished 107th overall. The top 117 earned full-time status, which he didn’t have when the year began and meant often having to wait until the last minute to find out if enough spots opened up to allow him to enter specific tournaments.

Now, he can pick and choose his schedule well in advance. That’s important for an athlete who is set to become a first-time father. His wife, Chelsea, is due in February.

This is the third top-five finish of Cockerill’s European career. He had a tie for second at the Magical Kenya Open last March, followed by a tie for third at the ISPS Handa Championship in April.

Cockerill’s big year included earning a sponsor’s exemption into the Canadian Open in June and making the cut in his PGA Tour debut, then following that up by cashing cheques in two subsequent appearances on the biggest stage in golf (The Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship).

The two-time Manitoba golfer of the year, who made approximately $450,000 last season, is now headed back to Winnipeg to spend the holidays with his family. He’ll return overseas in early January to play a couple more tournaments in the Middle East before taking an extended break with his expanded family.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg