Scott
Arnold rallied to a maiden European Challenge Tour title as the
Australian toppled Dutchman Daan Huizing with an impressive back nine
performance to earn a two shot victory at the Cordon Golf Open.
The
former World Amateur Number One entered the day one shot off Huizing’s
lead but an impressive three under back nine earned him a two under par
68 and a first title on European soil.
The
28 year old was three shots back when he reached the turn but his
playing partner from the Netherlands dropped three shots in the space of
four holes and Arnold capitalised in ruthless fashion with back to back
birdies at the 15th and 16th.
He
finished two clear of Huizing and Englishman James Robinson, who signed
for a four under 66 to equal the best round of the day and finish on
seven under par for the tournament, earning his best Challenge Tour
finish in the process.
The
day was all about Arnold, however, who made the cut at this year’s Open
Championship, and he was delighted to have finally lifted a trophy in
his second full season on the Challenge Tour, having played The European
Tour in 2013 after coming through Qualifying School.
“It
my first win on Challenge Tour so it’s really exciting,” said the
Sydney player. “It’s my birthday next week so it’s like an early
present. I have a flight to catch this afternoon, I think it’ll only hit
me then.
“The more times you can put yourself into a position to win titles, the more you get used to the people and the crowds around.
“I
think when I played The Open this year, it really helped me. That was
really good, I felt pretty comfortable out there. I was a little bit
nervous today but it was more that I had to focus on what I was doing
and hit some targets.
“I
looked at the leaderboard for the first time on my way to the 16th
green and I saw that I had a two shot lead, but I still had two holes to
go so I was telling myself not to get carried away, because if you make
one or two bad shots it can quickly turn into bogeys.
“So
I’d rather make solid Pars, hit the fairways, hit the greens. It would
have been nice to finish with a birdie but I didn’t make the putt. It’s a
very good day though.”
Huizing,
meanwhile, was disappointed not to have claimed a third Challenge Tour
title having helped the lead for so long, but praised Arnold’s
performance.
“I
felt pretty good all day, just with the same focus as the last few days
- to just go out and play, don’t really bother with the rest, just play
my game and see where I stand coming down the back nine.
“I
was doing that well, I started pretty good. I had a good birdie on
seven, went one under. On eight I hit it on the green, hit a good first
putt and with the second putt there was something in my line and didn’t
worry about it and putted anyway and that’s where I missed up, just
throwing away shots.
“On
14, I made a bad choice of clubs because the wind changed, which made
it quite tricky, but again I got back in play on the green, made a good
first putt but missed a short one and again, so that was a really
unnecessary three-putt. Scott played really well, I feel like I had it
in my own hands but he did well to finish it off.”
Three-time
Challenge Tour winner Sam Walker of England was one of five players
tied for fourth place on six under, as was Clement Berardo, who held the
honour of being the highest-placed Frenchman.
Three Scots - first-round leader David Law, Peter Whiteford and Jack Doherty - all finished T9 on 275 and earned 4,120 euros apiece. Whiteford and Doherty shot in the 60s. In fact, if Law, who had a two-over 72, had duplicated Doherty's closing 67 he would have won the tournament with a 270 aggregate.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 280 (4x70)
271 S Arnold (Aus) 71 65 67 68,
273 D Huizing (Ned) 68 68 66 71, J Robinson (Eng) 69 69 69 66,
274 J Hahn (USA) 71 70 64 69, C Berardo (Fra) 73 67 65 69, G Shaw
(Nir) 70 69 68 67, S Walker (Eng) 67 73 68 66, B Virto Astudillo (Esp)
67 68 70 69,
275 P Whiteford (Sco) 68 71 67 69, C Selfridge (Nir) 69 67 67 72, J
Doherty (Sco) 66 70 72 67, D Law (Sco) 64 69 70 72, H Joannes (Bel)
68 70 69 68,
276 F Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 68 71 67, J Dantorp (Swe) 67 73 67 69, J
Sjöholm (Swe) 74 67 64 71, R Enoch (Wal) 70 69 66 71, N Turner (Irl)
68 69 73 66,
277 T Remkes (Ned) 68 69 70 70, R Fox (Nzl) 72 68 64 73, S Hodgson (Eng) 71 71 66 69,
278 S Heisele (Ger) 71 70 70 67, N Bertasio (Ita) 70 71 66 71, J Fahrbring (Swe) 70 67 69 72,
279 J Winther (Den) 70 71 68 70, D Stewart (Sco) 71 70 69 69,
280 S Einhaus (Ger) 68 74 67 71, S Kim (USA) 74 68 67 71, R Coles (Eng) 68 72 70 70, N Geyger (Chi) 71 71 67 71,
281 S Manley (Wal) 68 70 72 71, J Adarraga Gomez (Esp) 67 72 69 73,
T Anderson (Eng) 70 72 68 71, D Nouailhac (Fra) 72 69 67 73, M Søgaard
(Den) 67 68 72 74, N Ravano (Ita) 67 70 72 72, A Saddier (Fra) 67 69
75 70, S Gros (Fra) 74 67 64 76, A Björk (Swe) 71 70 69 71, B Åkesson
(Swe) 68 72 70 71, M McGeady (Irl) 67 71 67 76,
282 M Orrin (Eng) 69 68 74 71, F Praegant (Aut) 70 72 69 71,
283 N Lemke (Swe) 67 72 71 73, C Gloet (Den) 69 69 70 75, L Gagli
(Ita) 73 68 70 72, P Tarver-Jones (Eng) 71 71 68 73, O Stark (Swe) 74
66 72 71, B Parker (Eng) 69 71 71 72, M Delpodio (Ita) 70 66 70 77,
284 W Harrold (Eng) 71 71 70 72, S Soderberg (Swe) 68 69 73 74, G Woolgar (Eng) 70 69 68 77,
285 C Ford (Eng) 74 68 66 77, G Houston (Wal) 71 71 70 73, P Relecom
(Bel) 70 72 70 73, A Widemann (Fra) 70 65 76 74, R Langasque (am)
(Fra) 69 72 68 76,
286 C Arendell (USA) 73 68 73 72,
287 A Hartø (Den) 68 73 72 74, S Fallon (Eng) 75 67 72 73,
289 A Bernadet (Fra) 72 66 76 75,
291 C Sordet (Fra) 72 70 74 75, C Aguilar (Esp) 73 68 75 75,
293 M Rocchi (Fra) 67 74 79 73,
297 C Tortuyaux (Fra) 76 66 79 76,
- Ends -
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