Monday, August 26, 2013

Maiden triumph for Fleetwood at Gleneagles

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood claimed his first European Tour title on Sunday after capturing the Johnnie Walker Championship following a sudden-death play-off at Gleneagles in Scotland.
Fleetwood triumphed on the first extra hole at the Centenary Course, site of next year's Ryder Cup, to take the honours ahead of Scotland's Stephen Gallacher and Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina.
Gallacher looked to have ruined his chances with a triple-bogey seven on the 11th hole, but he produced birdies at 14 and 16 before sinking a 15-foot putt to record an eagle on the last.
The Scot set a clubhouse target of 18 under par, but Fleetwood equalled his score thanks to a birdie on the last and playing partner Gonzalez matched his feat with birdies on 16 and 18.
The players returned to the par-five 18th for the play-off, and after Gallacher missed a seven-foot putt for birdie and Gonzalez three-putted, Fleetwood holed a birdie putt from four feet to claim the prize.
"The other two guys were a little unlucky with their putts and before you know it, you have a four-footer for the win," said Fleetwood.
"God knows how I made contact. It all seemed to unravel really quickly."
Fleetwood, 22, only kept his card at the end of his debut season on the European Tour by registering a first top-10 finish in the year's final event in South Africa.
He stayed with his parents in a house behind the 12th green at Gleneagles and added: "It's unbelievable. I have been up there a lot and not even had a top-five finish and all of a sudden you come away with a win.
"It just seemed to come a bit easier this week. I was nervous as hell on the first green but after that I was pretty calm.
"It was so tight, almost claustrophobic on the leaderboard; if you dropped a shot, you went down 10 places."
Gallacher's participation was cast into doubt after he hurt his back while washing his car on Monday, and he said he was pleased just to have been in contention.
"I would have taken a play-off on Monday," Gallacher said.
"I was just happy to be playing, to be honest. I actually hit the ball really, really well. It was only the short irons I was struggling with. I could not really get into my posture."

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