SWEDE WINS TITANTIC BATTLE FOR VICTORY
IN CHALLENGE OF IRELAND EVENT

From MICHAEL GIBBONS
Press Officer, European Challenge Tour

Sweden’s Magnus A Carlsson emerged the victor from a magnificent final round battle with Michael Lorenzo-Vera of France at the Challenge of Ireland presented by Glasson.
Two shots clear at the start of the day, Carlsson and Lorenzo-Vera teed off at 12:05 local time and proceeded to exchange blows for the next four and a half hours, producing a thrilling contest that came down to the very last putt of the tournament that secured the Swede the first prize of €24,000.
Lorenzo-Vera signalled his intent with a birdie at the second hole to get within a stroke of Carlsson before both men picked up a shot on the third. That was followed by Carlsson’s first bogey of the round on the seventh that levelled the scores for two holes before the Swede hit back with a birdie to go back into the lead.
Lorenz-Vera refused to go away though and hit back with a stinging combination of three successive birdies between the tenth and 12th to surge two clear.
KILLER BLOW OF A PUTT
Carlsson was clearly reeling from his playing partner’s attack, but managed to land his own killer blow – an outrageous 50 foot putt for birdie on the 13th that, coupled with Lorenzo-Vera’s bogey, saw Carlsson at the top of the leaderboard once more.
As Lorenzo-Vera dropped another shot on the 16th, the battle looked to be over – only for Carlsson to keep the suspense alive by leaving himself a testing two foot putt for victory on the 18th green.
The Swede kept his nerve though, and rolled home the bogey putt for a final round of two under 70 to land the final blow of what was a sensational tussle.
“There were a lot of ups and downs and Michael made three good birdies to go two ahead,” said Carlsson, who finished the week on ten under par 278 for a on stroke victory.
“But then I made two good putts and Michael had a three-putt and everything changed.
“On the 13th I holed from 45 feet and then I made another great one from just off the green on the 14th from 18 feet - it was nothing compared to the other one.
“This morning when I woke up I felt I could have a good day. I felt comfortable with my game. It feels very good to win. I don't think it has sunk in yet.”
Carlsson’s €24,000 prize lifted him to sixth position on the Challenge Tour Rankings, while Lorenzo-Vera, who shared second place with Gustavo Acosta after the Argentine surged through the field with an excellent final round 67, can console himself with the fact that he is now the Challenge Tour Number One after his own prize of €13,500 took him to the summit of the money list.
LEADING TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
278 M A Carlsson (Swe) 69 70 69 70.
279 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 63 73 74 68, J Zapata (Arg) 69 73 70 67.
Scots' scores:
291 A McArthur 64 78 75 74 (jt 25th) (1335 Euros).
292 G Murray 71 74 73 74, S Henderson 72 72 75 73 (jt 29th) (1200 Euros each).
302 E Ramsay 74 72 77 79 (jt 52nd) (570 Euros).
305 J Doherty 73 72 78 82 (jt 58th) (480 Euros)l