Howell wins Beko Classic by 5 shots in Turkey

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The 2015 Beko Classic was wrapped up in stunning style by European Tour star, David Howell, as his final round five-under 67 at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal at Antalya in southern Turkey was enough for a winning five-shot margin

“It feels great to win – I was a late entry to the tournament really but obviously I know the venue,” explained Howell.  “It was lovely to see a lot of friendly faces as soon as I got here with some of the other professionals I’ve known for many a year, and it’s been a great week.”

Competing in his first Beko Classic pro-am, Howell began the day as he meant to go on with a birdie on his first hole, the par-four tenth, and followed it up with another two birdies before the turn to get to nine-under for the tournament.

A further two birdies on his 13th and 16th holes enabled him to close at 11-under-par 205 for the week; a whole five shots clear of second place.

“It was mistake-free really; no bogeys today and perfect weather conditions…this time of year there’s not too much rough on the course so if you do the right things you feel like you can knock it round without making any bogeys and I did that – and a couple of birdies dropped as well so it was very pleasing.

“This was my 31st tournament of the year…so to come and get the victory has been absolutely fantastic but now I will pretty much hang the boots up for two or three weeks…and build up into next year.  I start the season just about inside the top-100 in the world and my goal will be to try and finish just inside the top-50 in the world.”

Tied for second place were overnight leader, Pontus Widegren (Sweden), and England’s Jamie Elson, each finishing six-under par (210) for the tournament.

Widegren’s front nine was sadly not in keeping with the rest of his tournament’s quality and a smattering of bogeys and birdies moved him away from the top through nine holes.  A more stable back nine from the Swede followed with a solitary birdie to bring him back to level par (72) for the day.

Meanwhile Elson has begun his week with two solid 71s, so needed to go low in Round 03 to make a substantial move.  Two birdies and a bogey on the front nine, followed up by three birdies coming in teed up a four-under 68, earning a share of second along the way.

The Team Pro-Am competition saw teams of three amateur players rotate with different Professionals for each round.  It was team ‘Beko South Africa’ – Robert Hissom, Ahmed Tayeb, and Ian Todd – that managed to make the most of their pairings taking the 2015 team title with 254 points (-38).

In second place was Beko UK – Nuri Conker, Johnathan Copp, and Richard Moore – with 248 points (-32), followed closely by Team Opet – Hasan Ceylan, Sabri Yigit, and Fikret Unlu – with 243 points (-27) in third place.

Beko Classic 2015 Final Totals

  Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Club, Antalya, Turkey

par 216 (3x72)
1	David Howell (p)	-5	F	-11	70	68	67	205
T2	Pontus Widegren (p)	E	F	-6	69	69	72	210
T2	Jamie Elson (p)	-4	F	-6	71	71	68	210
4	Robert Coles (p)	E	F	-4	71	69	72	212
5	James Heath (p)	+3	F	-2	70	69	75	214
6	Garrick Porteous (p)	-3	F	-1	72	74	69	215
7	Andrew Marshall (p)	-3	F	E	73	74	69	216
8	Chris Gane (p)	+3	F	+2	71	72	75	218
T9	Steven Tiley (p)	-1	F	+3	74	74	71	219
T9	Marco Ruiz (p)	+2	F	+3	74	71	74	219
T9	Carlos Rodiles (p)	+1	F	+3	71	75	73	219
T12	Peter Gustafsson (p)	+3	F	+4	72	73	75	220
T12	Christopher Mivis (p)	-1	F	+4	76	73	71	220
T12	Raymond Russell (p)	+1	F	+4	71	76	73	220
T15	Klas Eriksson (p)	+2	F	+5	72	75	74	221
T15	Gareth Wright (p)	E	F	+5	73	76	72	221
T17	Joakim Rask (p)	-1	F	+6	76	75	71	222
T17	Graham Fox (p)	+2	F	+6	80	68	74	222
T17	David Griffiths (p)	+1	F	+6	78	71	73	222
T17	Sion Bebb (p)	E	F	+6	71	79	72	222
T17	Jamie Little (p)	E	F	+6	76	74	72	222
T22	Simon Edwards (p)	+3	F	+8	75	74	75	224
T22	Steven Jeppssen (p)	+3	F	+8	77	72	75	224
T22	Garry Houston (p)	+2	F	+8	74	76	74	224
25	Adam Gee (p)	+4	F	+9	77	72	76	225
26	John Daly (p)	+5	F	+15	74	80	77	231
27	Bjorn Pettersson (p)	+10	F	+17	78	73	82	233
28	Benn Barham (p)	+9	F	+20	79	76	81	236
29	Simon Wakefield (p)	+13	F	+23	80	74	85	239
30	Otto Bonning (p)	+11	F	+33	81	85	83	249