THE American David Lipsky won his first European Tour title after a topsy-turvy finish to the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.
After almost holing his approach to the 18th hole Lipsky went on to card a closing 65 to force a play-off with England's Graeme Storm after the pair finished tied on 18 under par at Crans-sur-Sierre yesterday.
They returned to the 18th for the first extra hole and the tournament looked to be over when Storm's drive missed the fairway and finished up against a wall, close to a plaque commemorating the place from where the late Severiano Ballesteros pulled off a miraculous escape on his way to victory in 1993.
Storm did not appear optimistic of repeating the feat, the 36-year-old saying to his caddie: "Oh well, never mind, it wasn't meant to be," before pitching out sideways.
Lipsky had 86 yards to the hole from a fairway bunker but did not attempt to go for the green, a decision described as "heartless" in television commentary by the former European Tour player Wayne Riley.
However, Lipsky pitched out left of the water guarding the front of the green before chipping to two feet and holing for a winning par after Storm missed from long range.
The 26-year-old, who usually plays on the Asian Tour - the event was jointly sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours - and won in Cambodia in 2012, said: "It feels spectacular. I've put in a lot of hard work and have been playing well the last couple of weeks. To put it all together this week is very special to me."
Asked by Riley why he chose to lay up on the play-off hole, Lipsky said: "I was debating in my head the worst-case possibilities and scenarios. It was a tough shot out of the bunker and, with Graeme only going to make par at best, I decided not to risk going in the water. In the end it was the right play."
Storm, whose only European Tour win came in the French Open in 2007, held a one-shot overnight lead and made the ideal start with birdies at the first two holes, but then three-putted from the front edge of the fourth green for a bogey. That allowed Lipsky to draw level thanks to a tap-in eagle on the par-4 seventh and from then on the tournament was wide open with four players briefly tied for the lead on the back nine.
Storm and his playing partner Brooks Koepka edged ahead with birdies on the 15th, but Koepka bogeyed the 17th after his approach plugged in a greenside bunker. That appeared to give Storm the advantage on the last, but the approach by Lipsky, playing in the group, almost spun into the hole to set up a birdie which eventually forced extra holes.
Second place took Storm from 159th in the Race to Dubai to 64th, adding to the £100,000 sports car he won for a hole-in-one on the 11th in the third round. "It's tough to take right now," Storm said. "I didn't have much time between finishing my round and starting the play-off, so probably wasn't as composed as I should have been. Overall it's been an unbelievable week. It may take a little while to get over the disappointment, but on the plus side I've secured my card for next season and that has been the goal the last few weeks.
"I was a bit disappointed to have left my birdie putt on the last in regulation so short, but I didn't know David had birdied the last to get to 18 under or else I might have gone for the flag and given myself a better chance of making birdie."
Koepka finished joint third alongside England's Tyrrell Hatton, with Danny Willett and Tommy Fleetwood another shot back in fifth, Willett's 63 the best round of the day.
France's Romain Wattel came joint ninth on 13 under after a 65 which included a hole-in-one on the 11th. "I saw the crowd celebrating but didn't know if that was because it was close, or in. Then I realised, but didn't know if there was a prize," Wattel said. "Richard Green told me I'd won the car, but I thought it was only for the first hole-in-one. Unfortunately, I was right."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article