After 17 years and 285 flops, Mcevoy finally wins a title
There will not be a more popular winner on the European Tour this year. After 17 years and 285 tournaments, Richard Mcevoy finally claimed his maiden title.
The affable Englishman achieved his ambition in style, holing a 20-footer for a birdie on the 18th hole to win the Porsche European Open by a shot.
The 39-year-old from Essex was understandably emotional after overcoming the odds as the world No275 to see off Masters champion Patrick Reed and another American in Ryder Cup contender Bryson Dechambeau at the Green Eagle course, near Hamburg.
Mcevoy has been forced to go to qualifying school 12 times and has retained his Tour card on only two occasions. Yet after winning his third event on the Challenge Tour in Normandy the week before, he carried over this form to the top flight and, courtesy of a 73 for an 11-under total, collected a cheque for £300,000 – almost five times greater than his previous biggest payday, for finishing joint eighth at the 2010 Dunhill Links.
Now Mcevoy, who played in the same Walker Cup team as Luke Donald and Graeme Mcdowell, has at last earned some much-needed security with a two-year exemption on Tour.
“It’s incredible,” Mcevoy said. “I’ve waited a long time – 17 years as a pro on and off the Tour. A lot of bad years, a lot of good years but it had never quite happened. This was my time. I fought hard and even at the last I overpowered my caddie to lay it up to give myself the best opportunity to make birdie.”
There was one sour note. Dechambeau, who shared the overnight lead with Mcevoy, came to the 18th needing a birdie to have any chance of entering a play-off with Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand, Italy’s Renato Paratore and Allen John, the fine German amateur, who were in the clubhouse on 10 under.
As it was, he would have required an eagle to match Mcevoy – but the world No 23 took a treble-bogey eight for a 78 to fall down to a tie for 13th. The 24-year-old from California was clearly incensed – but the perfunctory manner with which he shook the winner’s hand was a disgrace.
Eddie Pepperell, who finished tied sixth at last week’s Open, summed it up perfectly on Twitter: “Has to be said, as far as classless handshakes go, that was a good’n!”
Reed finished one ahead of Dechambeau in a tie for ninth following a disappointing 76.
In the Senior Open at St Andrews, Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez hung on to beat Germany’s Bernhard Langer by a shot.
Meanwhile, there is a new female world No1 going into this week’s Women’s British Open at Lytham. Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn reclaimed the mantle after her one-stroke win over Korean Minjee Lee in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at Gullane.