Syme ‘over the moon’ as huge putt earns him second place

FINLAND’S Mikko Korhonen shrugged off two weather delays to cruise to his first European Tour title at the inaugural Shot Clock Masters in Austria.

Korhonen took a five-shot lead into the final round at Diamond Country Club and carded a closing 69 to finish 16-under-par, six shots ahead of Drumoig’s Connor Syme.

Syme, 22, who only turned professional last September and was ranked 836th in the world at the start of the week, holed from 60 feet for a birdie on the 18th to finish outright second, a shot ahead of Steve Webster, Nicolas Colsaerts, Justin Walters and Raphael Jacquelin.

Syme’s putt at the last was worth 51,000 euros (£44,788) as it vaulted him out of a five-way tie into solo second and a payday of 111,110 euros (£97,000).

“I’m absolutely over the moon,” the former Walker Cup player said. “That was a massive bonus on the last and you could tell by my reaction how much it meant to me.

“I’ve had a couple of decent results but it’s been a pretty slow start to the European Tour since I gained my card. This will definitely turn things around no matter what.

“It always felt like a special week and I just fancied to do something really class near the end. To hole that putt was just a dream come true.”

Jacquelin reduced Korhonen’s overnight advantage to three shots after four birdies in the first seven holes but the Finn birdied the third before play was suspended for 75 minutes due to the threat of lightning.

The 37-year-old, who needed eight attempts to earn his European Tour card via the qualifying school, picked up further shots on the fifth and sixth when play resumed before carding his first bogey of the week on the ninth.

A birdie on the next quickly settled any nerves and despite another bogey on the 12th Korhonen was never in danger of being caught.

“It feels great, beautiful,” Korhonen said. “It’s been a long wait so it feels so good. I’ve been up there a couple of times and couldn’t do it at those times, but now I’m so happy.

“It’s not easy to win, especially not the first win, so I’m really happy to have done it.”

Four players received one-shot penalties during the week for taking more than the allotted time to play their shots, while Andrea Pavan successfully appealed against his penalty in the third round.

European Tour CEO Keith Pelley said: “I think we saw this week that this can definitely improve the game. It also shows that if players get into the mindset then they can play quicker.”