Richie Ramsay is the Toast of Scotland!

Winner of South African Open play-off

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

with additional words by Colin Farquharson
Three years after becoming the first Scot to win the US Amateur Championship in 108 years, Richie Ramsay now has his first European Tour title.
The 26-year-old from Aberdeen, pictured right on the night he was made an honorary member of Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, won the South African Open Championship at Pearl Valley Golf Estates, Western Cape, coming from five behind with a best of the day 65 and then beating Indian Shiv Kapur with a birdie on the first play-off hole.
"There's no greater feeling than winning and I'm just a flood of emotions - I'm holding back the tears," said Ramsay after receiving the second oldest trophy in golf.
The pair tied on the 13-under-par mark of 275 but the former Walker Cup player grabbed the first prize - and a European Tour exemption that runs until the end of 2011 - when he was on the green in two shots at the monster 601yd 18th and two-putted.
"Things just went for me," he added. "But I am a lot more positive now - I go out believing and thinking I can win."
Ramsay did not drop a shot all day, going to the turn in 33 and then grabbing more birdies on the tenth, 12th, 15th and 17th.
The last of those, a 14-footer following a superb approach from the rough over water, brought Ramsay into the joint lead and, after the Scot had missed a 25 foot birdie chance on the last, Kapur stood on the same green with a 12ft putt for his first European Tour title but missed.
Denmark's Anders Hansen, Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed and Italian Edoardo Molinari all could have joined the play-off with a closing eagle but failed.
Hansen's birdie left him third, while the other two parred to be joint fourth - and that was good enough for Molinari to climb into the world's top 50 just in time to join his brother Francesco in the Masters Tournament at Augusta in April. Denmark's. They will be the first brothers to compete at the Masters together since Japan's Jumbo and Joe Ozaki in 2000.
Overnight leader Pablo Martin, winner of last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship, dropped to sixth with a 73. He had lived dangerously all week so it was no surprise that his luck ran out on the final day.
Ramsay, a former Scottish and Irish open amateur stroke-play champion, went into the event ranked 240th in the world and the victory will take him just inside the top 120.
That makes him the third highest-ranked Scot behind Aberdeen-born Australian Michael Sim, and another US PGA Tour-based player, Martin Laird. Scotland's last winner on the European Tour was Alastair Forsyth in Portugal 19 months ago. The last Aberdonian to win on the European Tour was 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie in the 2002 Wales Open.
It was not until he came fourth at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in October that Ramsay made sure of keeping his card.

Today's vcitory earned him £141,745, but his Tour exemption will extend only until the end of 2011 rather than the usual 2012 because the purse was less than 1.5million Euros.
So, this Christmas, Richie Ramsay is the Toast of Scotland!

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Related Link
European Tour's official website
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FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72). Course: 7,309yd. Temperature final round: 72 degrees.
275 Richie Ramsay (Sco) 67 75 68 65, Shiv Kapur (India) 71 68 69 67. Ramsay (Euros 158,500) bt Kapur (E 115,000) at first hole of sudden-death play-off.
276 Anders Hansen (Den) 66 69 72 69 (E 69,200).
277 Fredrik Hed Andersson (Swe) 71 68 68 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 68 69 69 71 (E 45,200 each).
278 Pablo Martin (Spa) 65 68 72 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 73 71 68 66
279 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 68 73 68 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 66 69 72, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 72 70 67, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 72 69 68 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 68 75 69 67
280 Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 67 74 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 76 69 68 67
281 Richard Bland 73 72 66 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 69 73 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 74 70 68
282 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 69 75 69 69, Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70 70 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 69 74 68
283 Damien McGrane 69 72 71 71, David Drysdale 75 70 68 70, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 69 69 74 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 70 74 67, Simon Khan 73 71 68 71(jt 21st) (E 10,800 each).
284 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 71 71 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 68 70 69, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 69 70 73, Andrew Coltart 74 67 73 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 73 72 68 71 (jt 26th) (E 9,300 each).
285 Robert Rock 71 74 71 69, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 65 73 74 73, George Coetzee (Rsa) 74 67 74 70, David Hewan (Rsa) 77 68 69 71
286 Callum Macaulay 70 69 73 74, Grant Muller (Rsa) 72 72 70 72, Gareth Maybin 75 68 72 71, Richard McEvoy 71 69 73 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 72 73 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 71 73 72, John Bickerton 73 70 72 71, Michael Hoey 70 70 70 76 (jt 35th) (E 7,000 each).
287 Gary Murphy 75 69 71 72, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 71 69 75, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 71 71 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 79 65 74 69
288 Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 74 69 70 75, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 74 78 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 76 67 72 73, Sam Hutsby 71 73 69 75, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 70 74 73, Louis Moolman (Rsa) 70 74 71 73, Richard Finch 68 71 76 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 74 72 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 74 72 73
289 Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 72 72 73 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 69 73 74, Rhys Davies 73 70 72 74
290 Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 71 73 71 75, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 74 70 73 73
291 Dion Fourie (Rsa) 71 72 72 76, Steve Basson (Rsa) 73 70 73 75, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 69 73 74 75, Paul Waring 73 72 72 74, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 70 73 70 78, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 74 70 73 74
292 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 72 72 72 76
294 J G Claassen (Rsa) 74 69 75 76, Peter Whiteford 73 72 75 74, Alan McLean 69 73 79 73, Kenneth Ferrie 71 70 75 78 (jt 68th) (E 2,200 each).
296 James Morrison 72 73 74 77
298 Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 72 73 75 78
299 T C Charamba (Zim) 73 72 73 81, Doug McGuigan 70 75 72 82
300 James Kamte (Rsa) 70 74 77 79
301 Thabang Simon (Rsa) 75 70 74 82
302 Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 71 71 79 81
304 Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 70 79 81
308 Ryan Dreyer (Rsa) 73 72 76 87.