GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR:WELSHMAN RHYS Davies captured his first European Tour title with a brilliant display in Morocco yesterday.
The 24-year-old former Walker Cup amateur — he was a team-mate of Rory McIlroy in 2007 — lifted the Hassan Trophy by two shots after a closing seven under par 66 at Royal Dar Es Salam.
Davies trailed South African Louis Oosthuizen by three with 15 holes to play, but birdied eight of the next 11 and took the € 229,160 first prize with a 25-under-par total of 266.
For Oosthuizen it was a fourth runners-up finish on the circuit, while Frenchman Thomas Levet, Spaniard Ignacio Garrido, Finn Mikko Ilonen and another South African Thomas Aiken shared third place five strokes further back.
Ireland’s Gareth Maybin and Peter Lawrie both finished on 15-under-par 276 after finals rounds of 69 and 67 respectively, collecting €25,483 each. Darren Clarke closed with a 73 for a five-under-par total of 286.
Davies, British boy champion seven years ago, said: “I’m a little bit lost at the moment — this is all completely surreal to me.
“I didn’t really think very much out there. It was all a bit of a blur.” Told about his eight birdies from the fourth to the 14th the Bridgend golfer, who will move into the world’s top 100 as a result, added: “I didn’t know I did that. I just felt I could make every putt and felt in control of my swing.”
Davies finished third in his last tournament in Malaysia and will be watched closely now in the year when his home country stages the Ryder Cup for the first time.
“That’s way out of my equation at the moment. This is the first win, hopefully the first of a few, and it’s really special,” said Davies, Now he can plan his schedule for the rest of this year and next season.
A bogey on the short second left him an uphill task, but walking off the 11th green he had turned that into a one-shot lead.
It was already pretty much a two-man fight by then and Oosthuizen’s eagle on the next took him back in front. But Davies rolled in a 22-footer at the 13th and went two ahead when he birdied again on the 206-yard 14th and Oosthuizen bogeyed from the sand.
Victory might have taken Oosterhuizen back into the world’s top 50 a week before invitations to The Masters are handed out, but he will now have to try for that again when the Tour reaches European soil at Malaga this week.
TOP 12 FINISHERS
(Irish and Brit unless stated, par 73):
266 – Rhys Davies 68 64 68 66.
268 – Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 64 64 70.
273 – Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 67 68 67 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 69 67 66, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 67 69 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 65 68 71
275 – Robert Rock 71 67 67 70, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 68 70 66, Danny Willett 73 67 64 71.
276 – Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66 70 70 70, Gareth Maybin (Irl) 72 69 66 69, Peter Lawrie (Irl) 66 70 73 67.
Full scoreboard in Sports Round-Up
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