A birdie on the final hole at Celtic Manor earned South African Richard Sterne a one-stroke Wales Open victory on Sunday.
While Sterne birdied the final hole for a four-under 65 to set the 13-under 263 target, home favourite Bradley Dredge bogeyed the 18th to lose the chance of becoming the first Welshman to win his national title.
Dredge had set up the victory chance after a dismal start with three successive birdies from the 15th but missed a six-foot putt for par on the last to return a 67 and finish 12-under.
He tied for second place with Singapore’s Mardan Mamat who came surging through the field with 62, the best round of the week, and two Danes, Soren Kjeldsen (65) and Mads Vibe-Hastrup (66).
Sterne’s scintillating finish with four birdies in the last five holes earned the 25-year-old South African his second tour title, the week after just missing out on a play-off in the PGA Championship.
The final round at Celtic Manor proved a frantic scramble for the $500 000 first prize with a dozen players in a position to win at one stage.
Mamat, winner in last year’s Singapore Masters, had made his first Tour cut in Europe and and he flourished on the final day, coming from five strokes behind the lead overnight with eight birdies following an opening bogey.
While he was warming up on the range for a play-off, though, Sterne and Dredge made his practice superfluous.
Minutes after Dredge went 13-under at 17, Sterne rolled in a five-foot putt on the last. Then Dredge repeated his feat of the previous day, finding the fairway bunker with his drive on 18, then pitching short. This time, though, he failed to save par.
Sterne was able to go one better than his Johnnie Walker Classic second place earlier in the season, add to his 2004 Madrid Open success and round off a consistent run with victory.
”It’s always difficult when you’re knocking on the door and don’t win and it’s fantastic to make the breakthrough,” Sterne told reporters.
”I knew I had to make that putt on the last and it’s nice to actually do what you know you have to do. Obviously the crowd didn’t want a South African winner but that’s how things go.”
A crestfallen Dredge, who lost a play-off for the Irish Open to Padraig Harrington two weeks before, said: ”There is always tension over a six-footer. There was a lot of tension with all my putts today.”
By finishing in a tie for second place, the Welshman, who refuses to try to pre-qualify for either the British or US Opens, failed to move into the world top-50 for an automatic British Open exemption. – Reuters