Simon Thornton dedicated victory to his late father on
Father's Day. Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c)
REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
An
emotional Simon Thornton dedicated his maiden European
Tour victory to
his late father after the Irishman showed nerves of
steel to beat Tjaart
Van der Walt of South Africa in a play-off
and
claim the Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open presented by Neuflize OBC
title on Father’s Day.
The
Irishman holed several tricky putts on the back nine in an
enthralling
battle of wits with his South African playing partner in
the final group
at Aa Saint Omer Golf Club.
The most important putt of all, however, came at the 18th during regular play when, after Van der Walt sealed a par, Thornton was left with a ten-foot putt to take it to extra holes.
Under
the most intense of pressure, the 36 year old rolled it into
the cup
and clenched his fist in celebration as he signed for a one
under par 70
to finish alongside Van der Walt on four under.
He
kept his cool once again in the play-off, finding the fringe of the
green while Van der Walt’s approach landed in a greenside bunker
and
after the South African’s sand shot fell 12 feet short,
Thornton
rolled a perfectly-weighted putt from 30 feet which slid just
left of
the hole but ensured a par.
When
Van der Walt’s par putt came up short, Thornton tapped in to
the
rapturous applause of the watching crowds, before dedicating
the victory
to his father, who passed away three years ago.
“It’s
so big for me,” said a tearful Thornton. “On father’s day too,
he
passed away three years ago and it still hurts, but they are
happy tears
today. This is dedicated to him.
“I didn’t play particularly well today in perfect conditions but I got
up and down when I had to and holed good putts.
“On
the last putt – I had been saying to myself all day, if I'm going
to
make it easy for myself I need to try on every putt and make
sure it
goes where you want to hit it – so I just picked
a line and
willed it in and it dropped.”
Thornton’s
rise is an incredible story of progression to the top of
European golf
against all odds, as he was a seven handicap golfer
just over a decade
ago.
Born
in Bradford, England, he moved to Ireland to become an
Assistant
Professional at Royal County Down Golf Club before
rising from the Irish
professional ranks to the Challenge Tour and then
to The European Tour.
“Hopefully
this is a stepping stone for me,” said Thornton, who
carded the first
hole in one of his professional career on the third
day in France. “I’ll
go home this week now and celebrate,
take a
week off, and then play in the Irish Open.
“To
come here and play like I did is incredible. What happens now
with this
category is fantastic, it’s mad how things have changed.
It’s surreal.”
For
Van der Walt, who also carded a one under par final round 70,
it was a
second runner-up finish on The European Tour after
finishing second in
the Africa Open last year.
Englishman
Seve Benson sealed the highest finish of his European
Tour career as a
one under par 70 left him in outright third place,
two shots ahead of
his compatriot Robert Dinwiddie whose
final
round of 70 earned him a fourth-placed finish.
FINAL TOTALS
(Par 284 (4x71)
279 S Thornton (Irl) 74 70 65 70, T Van Der Walt (RSA) 67 71 71 70 (Thornton beat Van der Walt with a 4 to a 5 at the first play-off hole).
280 S Benson (Eng) 75 65 70 70
282 R Dinwiddie (Eng) 72 66 74 70
283 P Edberg (Swe) 74 69 69 71, C Lloyd (Eng) 73 68 70 72
284 V Riu (Fra) 68 71 72 73, J Huldahl (Den) 73 67 73 71, A Domingo (Esp) 74 71 68 71
285 G Orr (Sco) 73 71 74 67, B Koepka
(USA) 75 70 68 72, D Gaunt (Aus) 70 70 75 70, J Elson (Eng) 75 69 68
73, M Glauert (Ger) 77 65 69 74
286 S Henry (Sco) 72 69 74 71, D
Vancsik (Arg) 73 67 75 71, G Shaw (Nir) 76 69 70 71, S Kim (Kor) 73 71
73 69, M Lundberg (Swe) 73 71 71 71, F Calmels (Fra) 73 71 71 71, B
Chapellan (Fra) 72 68 69 77
287 J Walters (RSA) 71 69 75 72, T
Nørret (Den) 75 69 74 69, R Davies (Wal) 77 67 71 72, A Kaleka (Fra) 73
71 71 72, D Brooks (Eng) 69 71 76 71, A Pavan (Ita) 74 70 70 73
288 A Snobeck (Fra) 76 69 72 71, C Brazillier (Fra) 75 70 73 70,
289 S Wakefield (Eng) 71 68 77 73, L Goddard (Eng) 75 67 76 71, R Kakko (Fin) 72 71 77 69
290
M Jonzon (Swe) 74 70 70 76, A Tadini (Ita) 73 71 75 71, G Boyd (Eng)
76 68 75 71, C Russo (Fra) 73 72 73 72, T Hatton (Eng) 75 67 74 74, J
Lima (Por) 74 71 72 73, P Dwyer (Eng) 73 70 78 69, R McEvoy (Eng) 71
71 74 74, G Stal (Fra)
75 68 76 71
291
J McLeary (Sco) 75 70 76 70, S Little (Eng) 74 70 78 69, T Remkes
(Ned) 75 70 76 70, A Marshall (Eng) 74 68 76 73, D Im (USA) 73 72 69 77,
C Hanson (Eng) 71 68 77 75, M Decottignies-Lafon (am) (Fra) 75 69 75
72
292
J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 68 78 73, M Korhonen (Fin) 74 70 74 74, J Lando
Casanova (Fra) 73 72 72 75, A Forsyth (Sco) 73 70 76 73, F Praegant
(Aut) 73 70 75 74
293 G Houston (Wal) 74 70 76 73, J Dantorp (Swe) 73 70 76 74, D Perrier (Fra) 77 66 76 74
294 E Dubois (Fra) 71 74 71 78, B Hebert (Fra) 74 68 77 75, Å Nilsson (Swe) 71 74 73 76
295 C Suneson (Esp) 72 71 75 77, M Crespi (Ita) 75 68 82 70
296 T Murray (Eng) 75 70 78 73, T Fournier (Fra) 71 71 79 75, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 72 76 77
297 R Quiros (Esp) 75 70 76 76, P Maddy (Eng) 72 72 78 75,
298 O Floren (Swe) 72 71 77 78
303 L Weber (Fra) 75 70 80 78
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR