MANLEY WINS BY TWO AT FINNISH CHALLENGE
REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Stuart
Manley marched to his maiden European Challenge Tour title at the
Finnish Challenge as a clinical final day performance earned him a three
under par round of 69 and a two-shot victory
at Kytäjä Golf, in Hyvinkää near Helsinki.
The
Welshman has been a regular on both The European Tour and Challenge
Tour since 2004 and has let chances slip before to claim a first title,
but he made no mistake this time after bouncing
back from a bogey on the opening hole to produce a nerveless
performance when it mattered most.
A
birdie at the opening par five, the third hole, calmed his nerves
before he summoned the kind of form which produced 18 birdies, an eagle
and just two bogeys in the opening three rounds.
Manley
picked up two more shots at the fifth and seventh holes to reach the
turn in two under and he extended his overnight lead from two shots to
three thanks to a birdie at the par five 12th.
From
there on in, it was a textbook performance in closing out a tournament
from the Aberdare man and he clinched back to back birdies at the
reachable par five 12th and the par four
13th to stroll to victory on the splendid North West course
at the lakeside venue. He was even afforded the luxury of a bogey at the
last before finishing on 21 under and picking up the €27,200 cheque.
“I'm
just delighted to be honest,” said Manley. “It’s relief too. I used up a
lot of energy today. It was tough because I didn’t have my A-game but I
got the ball around well and positioned
it well, didn’t take any risky shots and putted pretty solidly again.
“It
was just patience and being positive. I played the first well but
three-putted it and I couldn’t believe it, I had putted so well all
week. I thought, ‘I didn’t need that’ but I turned it
around and nobody really came at me that hard.
“I
have had three or four second places and if I had lost again today, I
would have been thinking ‘what have I got to do’ so it’s a massive
monkey off my back and hopefully now if I'm in that
situation again I can relish it instead of being a bit anxious.
“Every
time you’re in that position you get more used to it, but you still
have to get over that line and there’s nothing better than winning. I
feel great. It puts me in a great position now
to attack the big events for the rest of the season so I couldn’t have
asked for anything more.”
José-Filipe Lima was the closest to catching Manley as the Portuguese carded three birdies and an eagle at the 17th to briefly threaten but he unfortunately ran out of holes and had
to settle for outright second place, also moving to second place in the Rankings as his consistent season continues.
“I
was chipping and putting well today and it was a good five under,” said
the former European Tour winner, who signed for a five under par 67 to
finish on 19 under. “I’m just looking for that
win now and I know I'm not far away.
“I
need to be patient and keep playing well and I'm quite happy to do
that. I did a lot of work before the season so I'm happy, but the year
is not over and I just have to keep doing what I'm
doing.”
Three
shots further back in tied third place were Englishman Jamie Elson, who
carded a four under par 68, and Swede Jens Fahrbring, whose level par
72 earned him the best result of his Challenge
Tour career.
François
Calmels’ search for a third victory this year - which would earn him
automatic promotion to The European Tour - continues despite the
Frenchman’s charge on the final day, picking up
four birdies and an eagle in his opening 12 holes to get to within
three of the lead at one point, before finishing in tied fifth place.
For more, visit
www.europeantour.com/challengetour
Results:
267 S Manley (Wal) 65 69 64 69,
269 J Lima (Por) 68 68 66 67,
272 J Fahrbring (Swe) 65 69 66 72, J Elson (Eng) 67 67 70 68,
273 J
McLeary (Sco) 69 69 67 68, N Lemke (Swe) 64 68 70 71, F Calmels (Fra)
68 71 66 68, A Johnston (Eng) 68 68 68 69, D Huizing (Ned) 67 71 64 71,
274 E Myllymaki (am) (Fin) 66 70 70 68,
275 L Bjerregaard (Den) 69 69 69 68, R Kakko (Fin) 66 68 71 70, L Kennedy (Eng) 67 65 73 70, D Stewart (Sco) 65 68 70 72,
276 W Besseling (Ned) 66 70 71 69, B Stone (RSA) 65 66 69 76, B Ritthammer (Ger) 68 70 69 69,
277 M
Korhonen (Fin) 71 71 67 68, S Kapur (Ind) 70 71 71 65, G Cambis (Fra)
69 72 68 68, D Geminiani (Ita) 68 72 69 68, M Tullo (Chi) 66 76 66 69, P
Widegren (Swe) 70 71 69 67,
278 S Hutsby (Eng) 69 66 69 74, D Im (USA) 70 72 66 70, T Hatton (Eng) 65 70 69 74, E Espana (Fra) 70 70 69 69,
279 A
Ahokas (Fin) 68 70 70 71, K Borsheim (Nor) 67 71 69 72, R Prophet
(Eng) 71 67 73 68, D Ulrich (Sui) 70 69 72 68, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 74
67 72 66, C Pigem (Esp) 70 71 69 69,
280 C Aguilar (Esp) 69 73 70 68, C Kim (USA) 66 71 70 73, B Chapellan (Fra) 69 70 69 72,
281 A Pavan (Ita) 69 73 71 68, J Kaske
(Fin) 71 68 71 71, J Barnes (Eng) 69 69 70 73, D Brooks (Eng) 68 70 68
75, B Hebert (Fra) 72 67 70 72,
282 A
Domingo (Esp) 71 70 72 69, J Carlsson (Swe) 72 68 71 71, J Guerrier
(Fra) 66 70 71 75, R Davies (Wal) 69 68 72 73, M Kuronen (am) (Fin) 69
71 74 68,
283 V
Riu (Fra) 71 71 70 71, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 68 72 71 72, L Goddard
(Eng) 67 73 70 73, R Steiner (Aut) 68 74 72 69, M Ford (Eng) 70 70 73
70,
284 S Little (Eng) 68 72 73 71, O Bekker
(RSA) 69 69 71 75, N Ravano (Ita) 71 69 74 70, E Bertheussen (Nor) 69
73 71 71, P Maddy (Eng) 68 73 72 71, M Trappel (Aut) 70 71 72 71, S Kim
(Kor) 64 73 84 63,
285 P Archer (Eng) 70 71 76 68, D Perrier (Fra) 70 72 70 73, J Glennemo (Swe) 71 71 78 65, A Eckhardt (am) (Fin) 72 68 75 70,
286 A Otaegui (Esp) 71 70 73 72,
287 R
Saxton (Ned) 68 74 72 73, A McArthur (Sco) 70 71 75 71, G Shaw (Nir)
68 72 77 70, K Samooja (Fin) 72 70 75 70, H Porteous (RSA) 71 71 73 72,
288 J Granberg (Fin) 69 72 72 75,
289 P Oriol (Esp) 71 71 76 71, N Dougherty (Eng) 70 72 72 75,
290 A Velasco (Esp) 67 70 82 71,
291 T Pieters (Bel) 69 68 78 76,
293 A Hortal (Esp) 68 72 71 82, H Satama (Fin) 70 72 74 77,
294 P Erofejeff (Fin) 67 75 79 73,
295 S Piaget (Mon) 71 71 74 79,
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Labels: CHALLENGE TOUR
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