Edinburgh-born Rhys Davies wins
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on European Tour for first time
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FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
with some additional words by Colin Farquharson
Rhys Davies secured his maiden European Tour title at the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco today as he overhauled Louis Oosthuizen to win by two shots.
The 24 year old Edinburgh-born Welshman, the son of a Welsh table tennis international, was two behind the South African going into the final round, but shot a seven-under 66 to Oosthuizen’s 70 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam to finish 25-under-par 266.
The Challenge Tour graduate had four successful years on the American college circuit as a student at East Tennessee State University, chose to take up golf professionally instead of cricket. He earns €229,160 for his Moroccan victory.
It completes a remarkable year for the former British boys champion, in 2003 after being beaten in the 2002 final, who a year ago by his own admission had “no status in Europe”.
Victory at last year’s SWALEC Wales Open on the Challenge Tour changed all that, and he then captured the Fred Olsen Challenge de España en route to finishing fourth in the rankings and earning his European Tour card.
“I was playing Asian Tour and comfortable and playing well. But I wanted to be part of The European Tour and play with the best players out here,” admitted Davies.
Having come third in the Maybank Malaysian Open and sixth in Abu Dhabi already this season, Davies now climbs to 12th on The Race to Dubai.
“I’m a little bit lost at the moment – this is all completely surreal to me,” said Davies.
“It’s all a bit of a blur. I just kept focusing on hitting the ball as close to the flag as I could and holing every putt and I nearly did just about that.
“I just felt like I could make every putt and I think that was the key. I had a good speed on the greens and when you have a good speed you hole a lot of putts. I had good control of my swing today. It was probably the best I’ve hit it all week.”
For Oosthuizen it was a fourth runners-up finish on The European Tour, while Frenchman Thomas Levet, Spaniard Ignacio Garrido, Finn Mikko Ilonen and another South African Thomas Aiken shared third place five strokes further back.
“I am disappointed, of course. I just struggled with my irons all day,” admitted Oosthuizen, who had shot consecutive rounds of 64 to top the leaderboard going into the final round.
“It just wasn’t happening for me at all with the irons. I didn’t put the ball close enough to the pin in order to give myself chances. Rhys played brilliantly so congratulations to him.”
A bogey on the short second left Davies three behind and facing an uphill task, but walking off the 11th green he had turned that into a one shot lead.
It was already pretty much a two-man fight by then and Oosthuizen's eagle on the next took him back in front.
But Davies rolled in a 22 footer at the 13th and went two ahead when he birdied again on the 206 yard 14th and Oosthuizen bogeyed from the sand.
Victory might have taken Oosthuizen back into the world's top 50 a week before invitations to the Masters Tournament are handed out, but he will now have to try for that again when The European Tour reaches European soil for the first time in 2010 in Malaga this coming week.
Levet completed a satisfying week with a 71 but admits those on the course never had a chance with the last pair out playing so well.
“I feel like I’ve won the tournament between the rest of the guys because the two in front were not playing real golf - they were unbelievable,” he said.
Davies is the first Welsh winner on The European Tour since Bradley Dredge in 2006, but refused to be drawn on suggestions he could make it into Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup side at The Celtic Manor Resort in October.
“No, that’s way out of my equation at the moment,” he added. “I don’t know, this is the first win – hopefully the first of a few – and it’s such a really cool atmosphere and very special and I’m just going to enjoy this.”
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Related Links
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SCOTSWATCH:
Stephen Gallacher finished the top Scot in a share of 19th place with weekend rounds of 71 and 72 for 281 but, after his great opening round of 66, Bernard Gallacher's nephew will be disappointed that he finished as many as 15 shots behind the winner. Stephen earned 15,382 Euros. A top five finish would have earned him about four times a much as that.
David Drysdale finished joint 29th on 283 with four rounds in the low 70s, compared with Davies who scored four rounds in the 60s. He earned 11,825 Euros.
Kirkcaldy's Peter Whiteford had a last round of 73 - which was par for the course - but it dropped him down to joint 38th on 285. Had he repeated his Saturday effort of 69 on Sunday, then Whiteford would have earned around 18,000 Euros instead of the 10,175 he received.

FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZE MONEY
Par 291 (3x73, 1x72)
Prize money in Euros)
1 DAVIES Rhys WAL 68 64 68 66 266 (229,160).
2 OOSTHUIZEN Louis RSA 70 64 64 70 268 (152,770)
T3 AIKEN Thomas RSA 67 68 67 71 273 (65,312.50)
T3 GARRIDO Ignacio ESP 67 67 69 70 273 (65,312.50)
T3 ILONEN Mikko FIN 71 69 67 66 273 (65,312.50)
T3 LEVET Thomas FRA 69 65 68 71 273 (65,312.50)
T7 NILSSON Christian SWE 71 68 70 66 275 (35,475).
T7 ROCK Robert ENG 71 67 67 70 275 (35,475).
T7 WILLETT Danny ENG 73 67 64 71 275 (35,475).
T10 LAWRIE Peter IRL 66 70 73 67 276 (25,483.33).
T10 MAYBIN Gareth NIR 72 69 66 69 276 (25,483.33).
T10 MOLINARI Francesco ITA 66 70 70 70 276 (25,483.33).
13 BJÖRN Thomas DEN 72 68 70 67 277 (22,137.50).
14 LUITEN Joost NED 70 65 73 71 279 (21,037.50)
T15 COLES Robert ENG 72 65 73 70 280 (18975).
T15 HAVRET Grégory FRA 70 67 71 72 280 (18,975).
T15 HULDAHL Jeppe DEN 73 67 70 70 280 (18,975).
T15 LYNN David ENG 69 71 70 70 280 (18,975)
T19 BLAND Richard ENG 69 73 68 71 281 (15,382.81)
T19 BOYD Gary ENG 71 72 70 68 281 (15,382.81).
T19 ECHENIQUE Rafa ARG 68 68 71 74 281 (15,382.81)
T19 GALLACHER Stephen SCO 66 72 71 72 281 (15,382.81)
19 HOWELL David ENG 70 70 73 68 281 (15,382.81).
19 KANG Anthony USA 70 69 72 70 281 (15,382.81).
19 LUCQUIN Jean-François FRA 68 72 71 70 281 (15,382.81).
19 WALL Anthony ENG 69 73 69 70 281 (15,382.81).
27 LITTLE Sam ENG 67 69 72 74 282 (13,268.75).
27 RUIZ Marco PAR 74 69 70 69 282 (13,268.75).
T29 CLÉMENT Julien SUI 69 71 72 71 283 (11,825).
T29 DRYSDALE David SCO 71 70 70 72 283 (11,825).
T29 GONZALEZ Ricardo ARG 66 75 71 71 283 (11,825).
T29 HORSEY David ENG 67 71 75 70 283 (11,825).
T29 ZANOTTI Fabrizio PAR 66 74 71 72 283 (11,825).
T34 BOURDY Grégory FRA 72 69 68 75 284 (10,175).
T34 BROADHURST Paul ENG 74 68 70 72 284 (10,175).
T34 DOUGHERTY Nick ENG 66 69 72 77 284 (10,175).
T34 WHITEFORD Peter SCO 72 70 69 73 284 (10,175).
T38 DODD Stephen WAL 70 70 71 74 285 (8,937.50).
T38 LANE Barry ENG 74 68 69 74 285 (8,937.50).
T38 MARTIN Pablo ESP 69 73 73 70 285 (8,937.50).
T38 PARRY John ENG 74 68 72 71 285 (8,937.50).
T38 RODILES Carlos ESP 71 67 73 74 285 (8,937.50).
43 CAÑIZARES Alejandro ESP 67 73 73 73 286 (7,425).
43 CLARKE Darren NIR 69 72 72 73 286 (7,425).
43 FASTH Niclas SWE 68 71 73 74 286 (7,425).
43 LIANG Wen-chong CHN 75 66 71 74 286 (7,425).
43 QUESNE Julien FRA 72 65 74 75 286 (7,425).
43 STORM Graeme ENG 73 69 71 73 286 (7,425).
49 LARRAZÁBAL Pablo ESP 73 68 73 73 287 (6,187.50).
49 WEBSTER Steve ENG 72 68 71 76 287 (6,187.50).
49 YANO Azuma JPN 70 68 75 74 287 (6,187.50).
52 GOYA Tano ARG 74 68 74 72 288 (5,500).
52 KAPUR Shiv IND 67 73 74 74 288 (5,500).
54 BUTTERFIELD Andrew ENG 71 69 73 76 289 (4,950).
54 DONALDSON Jamie WAL 73 70 74 72 289 (4,950).
56 BROWN Mark NZL 69 73 73 75 290 (4,152.50).
56 CHOWRASIA S S P IND 67 72 74 77 290 (4,152.50).
56 COLSAERTS Nicolas BEL 71 71 74 74 290 (4,152.50).
56 JACQUELIN Raphaël FRA 69 73 73 75 290 (4,152.50).
56 SERGHINI Faycal MOR 73 68 74 75 290 (4,152.50).
61 KHAN Simon ENG 72 71 76 72 291 (3,712.50).
62 EL HASSANI Younes MOR 71 72 74 75 292 (3,575).
63 LOCKERBIE Gary ENG 74 69 73 77 293 (3,437.50).
64 HACK Jhared US 71 68 76 79 294 (3,300).
65 BAKER Peter ENG 73 69 76 79 297 (3,162.50).