On the European Tour
Girrbach triumphs on home soil
oel Girrbach secured a maiden European Challenge Tour title in front of a jubilant home crowd by carding a three under par closing round to become the first Swiss winner of the Swiss Challenge presented by ASG . The home favourite held a one-stroke lead coming into the final round at Golf Sempachersee – a course he knows well , having played in the last eight editions of the Swiss Challenge . Heavy rain overnight caused delays this morning in Lucerne , but Girrbach showed no sign of letting the difficult conditions affect him .
The 23 year old carded three birdies to reach the turn in 33 , then went on to pick up further gains on the 11th , 15th and 17th – leaving him with a four-shot lead as he walked down the last . A nervy double bogey at the 18th was soon forgotten , with an emotional Girrbach delighting the home fans as he held on for a two-shot win . “ I am speechless right now ,” said Girrbach , who became the first Swiss winner on the Challenge Tour since André Bossert triumphed at the 2008 MAN NÖ Open . “ I am super , super happy to do this in front of my home crowd . This tournament means so much to me . I started playing professional golf at this tournament , and it makes me so happy to have won here . “ There were a few tears – it was very emotional to win in front of my friends and family like that . “ I really stuck to my game plan today . I was just really
Photo Credit : GettyImages Renato Paratore
calm throughout the round , and I felt that was the most important thing for me today . “ I rolled in some really nice putts , I made birdie on nine and a really good par save on 13 when I holed one from about 50 foot . My short game overall was really the key today . “ It is an amazing event . There are always great crowds and what the greenkeepers did here this morning was amazing .“ It is really good to start the season like this . It is nice to win early because it makes you feel safe right now – you can relax slightly . “ After enjoying the next tournament the focus will start again and I can hopefully carry on this winning form during the rest of the season .”
With this victory Girrbach climbs up to fifth in the Road to Oman Rankings , having started the week in 87th place . Scotland ’ s Craig Lee , who finished second on 15 under par , moves from 140th to 14th place in the Rankings , while America ’ s Julian Suri maintained his position as Challenge Tour Number One by claiming a share of third place in Lucerne .
Paratore claims maiden title in Sweden
Renato Paratore won his first European Tour title as he held off the challenge of Chris Wood and defending champion Matthew Fitzpatrick to claim the Nordea Masters . Wood showed real guts to save par on the last three holes and sign for a 70 and an 11 under par total , leaving the Englishman needing a par up the last to set up a play-off . With the 20 year old looking on from the clubhouse , Wood hit a ragged tee-shot into the trees and recorded a bogey as Paratore became the youngest winner on Tour . Fitzpatrick had birdied the last to sign for a 68 and set the target at ten under on a rainy day in Malmö but ultimately fell a shot short of a play-off . Paratore ’ s victory comes in his 83rd appearance and will move him into the top 150 in the Official World Golf Ranking . Coetzee had started the day seven shots off the lead but set the course record with a brilliant 66 containing nine birdies , the last of which was a stunning chip-in on the 15th . He still held the lead as the final group started the back nine and
Joel winner
at one point there was a five-way tie for the lead between Coetzee , Donaldson , Olesen , Wood and Paratore . It was the latter two who broke out of the pack as they recovered from shaky starts with Paratore having bogeyed the third but he got back under par for the day thanks to an excellent tee-shot on the par three eighth and a right-to-lefter on the ninth . Wood had made bogeys on the first , third and seventh but birdied the sixth and ninth to turn in 37 before a six-footer on the tenth had him back in that share of the lead .
Paratore took advantage of the par five 12th before Wood repeated the trick but it was Paratore who edged ahead again with a 25-foot putt on the 14th . An excellent approach to the 16th moved Wood back into a share of the lead while Paratore made clutch putts for par on the 16th and 17th in what was proving to be a nervy finish . Another good par save followed on the last and when Wood had to take a drop after sending his final tee-shot into the trees , the trophy belonged to Paratore .
26 G o l f P l u s JULY 2017