Simon Griffiths accomplished a wire-to-wire victory on the Farmfoods European Senior Masters with a closing 68 on La Manga’s South Course to maintain a stacked chasing pack at bay as he cruised to a -17 successful complete.
The 51-year-old Qualifying College graduate began the ultimate day on the in style Spanish resort with a one-shot lead following rounds of 64 and 70, and made it to the flip in 35 strokes, with birdies at 4 and seven. It was a stable begin, however latest winner Van Phillips overtook Griffiths with 4 birdies in a row from the third and one other two at 8 and 10to attain -15.
Griffiths responded with birdies at 11 and 13, and a Phillips bogey on 15 meant Griffiths had a two-shot lead with 4 holes to play. He parred 15, 16 and 17 and stood on the ultimate tee figuring out a par would get the job achieved after Phillips had birdied the par-5 18th.
Griffiths performed it aggressively by hitting driver off the tee and a hybrid onto the inexperienced, with the two-putt birdie sealing his first title in his 14th begin on the Legends Tour.
FAIRYTALE VICTORY
“It feels unbelievable,” mentioned the champion. “It was a tricky day. I performed beautiful, however missed a whole lot of putts and was getting very anxious there. However in some way I managed to come back out on prime.
“The putter felt like a stick of dynamite all day, to be trustworthy. It wasn’t good, however they went in on the finish and that was all that mattered.”
It’s a fairytale win for a person who earned his probability on the Legends Tour at Qualifying College in January however began the season battling damage. “It’s been a tricky 12 months,” he admitted. “You already know, you’ve simply received to maintain battling, and right here I’m.”
The win caps an excellent run of type for Griffiths as he’d solely completed outdoors the highest eight as soon as in his earlier six occasions and secured his finest results of the season previous to this week with a tied-third on the Senior Italian Open in his earlier begin. The victory takes him to 10th
on the MCB Highway to Mauritius, and Phillips climbs to thirteenth after ending solo second.
ROAD TO MAURITIUS TITLE STILL IN THE BALANCE
Scott Hend eagled the ultimate gap to finish a 68 and finish the week in southern Spain alone in third on -14. That helped the Australian transfer into second within the season’s rating and shut the hole to primary Adilson da Silva, who completed a shot additional again in a five-way tie for fourth.
Match host Peter Baker signed for a closing 68 – his finest spherical of the week – to climb into tied-Twenty fourth on -7. He’s nonetheless fourth on the MCB Highway to Mauritius, however he wants an enormous finish to the season to retain the crown he earned with 4 wins final 12 months, together with one on the MCB Tour Championship Mauritius.
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