Wayne Westner found dead at home

• Two-time European Tour winner dies in apparent hostage drama
• Wayne Westner also won 1996 World Cup of Golf with Ernie Els
• He is alleged to have held wife hostage before committing suicide

Two-time European Tour and World Cup of Golf winner Wayne Westner has died in an apparent hostage drama.

According to Sport24, the 55-year-old South African is alleged to have held his wife hostage before committing suicide after being found with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.

Westner turned professional in 1981 and won his home South African Open on two occasions in 1988 and 1991, while it was solely a Sunshine Tour event.

However, he did taste European Tour glory, with his best individual triumph the 1993 Dubai Desert Classic, where he finished two strokes clear of Retief Goosen, while he also finished 20th in the Order of Merit that season.

Another European Tour win followed at the co-sanctioned 1996 FNB Players Championship before partnering Ernie Els to a World Cup of Golf triumph at Erinvale (above) – where the duo saw off American pair Steve Jones and Tom Lehman by an incredible 18 strokes.

In total, Westner achieved 13 individual wins in his professional career and reached a high of No.40 in the world rankings before, in 1998 at the Madeira Islands Open, he tore angle ligaments after falling more than 6ft when a railway sleeper crumbled under him.

This forced him to retire from a full schedule of golf aged just 37 and he played sporadically since – most recently at 2014 Dubai Desert Classic.

Wayne Westner played in The Open eight times, making the cut twice, with a best finish of T34 in 1993.

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RIP Wayne Westner

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