Sunday, July 29, 2018

Richard McEvoy scores first European Tour win after 17 years

Richard McEvoy claimed a dream maiden European Tour victory at the Porsche European Open as the Englishman overcame World Number 23 Bryson DeChambeau, Masters Champion Patrick Reed and a host of pretenders to the throne in a dramatic final day battle, courtesy of a birdie at the last.
The 39-year-old’s win comes in his 285th European Tour appearance, 17 years after making his debut on the tour and just seven days after triumphing on the developmental European Challenge Tour.

It earned him 333,330 euros.
There were twists and turns aplenty at Green Eagle Golf Courses in Germany as the leaders struggled in the afternoon wind but McEvoy played a safe game throughout and, having shared the lead with DeChambeau heading into the final round, a one over closing 73 was enough.
With German amateur Allen John - who is profoundly deaf and won gold at last year's Deaflympics - Swede Christofer Blomstrand and Italy’s Renato Paratore all in the clubhouse on ten under par, McEvoy required a birdie four on the risk-reward par five 18th hole to avoid a four-way play-off.
Against the advice of his caddie, the three-time Challenge Tour winner opted to lay up and that decision paid dividends when he knocked his third shot to 15 feet and duly holed the putt for an 11 under total of 277, and an emotional first European Tour success.
Scot David Drysdale finished tied sixth on 281 with scores of 69, 67, 72 and 73. He earned 42,900 euros.
Scott Jamieson earned 30,300 euros for a T16 finish on 282.
Liam Johnston,  Conor Syme and Marc Warren all finished on the 284 mark for a T40 placing. They each earned 21,400 euros.
Player quotes
Richard McEvoy
“It was a rollercoaster ride today, big time. I fought hard, I believed and even at the last hole I overpowered my caddie to lay it up to give myself the best opportunity to make birdie and I managed to do that.
“It's incredible. I've waited a long time, 17 years as a pro on and off the Tour, from Challenge Tour to European Tour. I'm absolutely over the moon.
“I did exactly the same last week winning on the Challenge Tour, I've tried to enjoy my golf as much as possible. Not that I haven't been before but I just needed to that little bit more and it's just come up trumps.
“It started a couple of weeks ago.  I played a pro-am at Queenwood and shot 64 - a course record - and beat the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Adam Scott and a few other boys and that was the start of the confidence-kick really.
“Last week's win on the Challenge Tour obviously was another boost to the confidence and it’s come good again this week. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of bad years, a lot of good years and it never quite happened. But it was my time on the 18th green, holing that putt, so I’m very pleased.”
Allen John
“It's been absolutely incredible. The atmosphere out there, the people that've been walking with me for all of the 18 holes, it's just an incredible feeling.
"Making birdie after birdie on the back nine was quite cool and when I was on 18 I saw the leaderboard and I was like 'wow, I'm pretty much in contention'. It's a pretty cool feeling.
“I was so in the moment that I didn’t really notice anything around me. The concentration and the routine of doing the same stuff over and over and just play the best shot that I can. That pretty much helped me to finish 18 holes without any distractions.
"There's a lot of self confidence I can take out of the tournament, being in contention, finishing this high on the leaderboard, that's a pretty amazing feeling and gives me a lot of confidence in the abilities that I can do on a golf course.”
Christofer Blomstrand
“It was a fun final round. I actually didn’t hit the ball as well as I did on the other days but I’m happy with the 68. I was hitting quite bad shots even on 17 which was quite a bad putting stroke, but I was a little nervous.
“I had quite a good chance on the last and I was thinking it was going to go down to the pin when it reached the green but it just stopped up on the top. I wanted to give the putt a try but it was a little firm.
“It’s one of my best weeks ever. It’s been quite a hard season for me so this is a step in the right direction.”
Renato Paratore
“It’s been a good day. My short game has been really good and it helped me a lot. The long game was OK, but in the last four holes I played really good and it was a good round.
“That shot at 18 was fantastic, it’s one I’ll have in my mind for the rest of my life. This year until now has been very difficult but now to have a result like this is fantastic.”
FINAL TOTALS
par 288 (4x72)
277 R McEvoy (Eng) 70 65 69 73
278 R Paratore (Ita) 72 66 70 70, C Blomstrand (Swe) 72 67 71 68, A John (am) (Ger) 68 73 70 67
279 H Tanihara (Jpn) 69 70 71 69, R Wattel (Fra) 67 69 72 71
280 M Schwab (Austria) 68 67 70 75, P Casey (Eng) 69 69 69 73
281 D Drysdale (Sco) 69 67 72 73, C Schwartzel (SAf) 70 69 72 70, P Reed (USA) 70 66 69 76, M Nixon (Eng) 73 71 69 68,
282 J Wang (SKor) 73 65 72 72, A Levy (Fra) 69 68 76 69, S Jamieson (Sco) 70 71 70 71, T Detry (Belgium) 72 72 69 69, B Dechambeau (USA) 66 68 70 78, D Lipsky (USA) 69 75 68 70
283 M Calderon (Chile) 71 72 69 71, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 75 70 71, S Hend (Australia) 68 71 69 75
284 C Syme (Sco) 68 72 72 72, S Kjeldsen (Denmark) 69 72 74 69, D Kataoka (Jpn) 71 71 71 71, L Johnston (Sco) 72 70 72 70, M Warren (Sco) 73 71 67 73, J Winther (Denmark) 70 72 73 69, J Lima (Portugal ) 70 71 74 69,
285 J Choi (SKor) 69 75 72 69, L Jensen (Denmark) 68 72 71 74, T Aiken (SAf) 73 71 72 69, B Dredge (Wales) 68 69 73 75, O Wilson (Eng) 73 71 73 68, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 71 71 74, L Herbert (Australia) 75 67 75 68, F Aguilar (Chile) 72 68 71 74, R Cho (SKor) 72 72 67 74, P Mejow (Ger) 69 69 73 74
286 R Ramsay (Sco) 75 69 70 72, D Horsey (Eng) 69 73 67 77, O Fisher (Eng) 68 71 73 74, L Bjerregaard (Denmark) 75 68 74 69, R Sterne (SAf) 72 71 72 71, M Lundberg (Swe) 71 70 75 70
287 J Walters (SAf) 72 72 70 73, J Stalter (Fra) 67 76 69 75, N Geyger (Chile) 72 69 77 69
288 T Pulkkanen (Finland) 71 72 69 76, C Shinkwin (Eng) 71 70 70 77, S Horsfield (Eng) 70 71 69 78, S Heisele (Ger) 71 69 72 76, S Gros (Fra) 72 70 74 72, B Hafthorsson (Iceland) 72 70 75 71
289 C Mivis (Belgium) 71 69 73 76, S Brown (Eng) 68 73 77 71, M Siem (Ger) 71 70 75 73, J Guerrier (Fra) 72 72 71 74, A Dodt (Australia) 68 74 74 73, M Pavon (Fra) 72 70 77 70, A Saddier (Fra) 72 71 72 74, N Elvira (Spn) 72 72 69 76, H Sturehed (Swe) 70 71 74 74
290 S Fernandez (Spn) 72 68 77 73
291 O Farr (Wales) 70 74 71 76, C Sordet (Fra) 71 72 75 73, K Koivu (Finland) 72 70 73 76, J Smith (Eng) 71 72 75 73
292 Ó Serna (Mexico) 73 69 72 78, J Morrison (Eng) 70 70 76 76, A Otaegui (Spn) 70 74 74 74
293 J Kolbing (Ger) 73 70 74 76
294 P Hanson (Swe) 70 71 73 80, B Staben (Ger) 67 77 75 75
298 J Thomson (Eng) 78 65 74 81

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