The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Perez left behind by Samooja’ s record 64
Dundee-based Frenchman Victor Perez missed out on a second successive DP World Tour title win as Kalle Samooja carded a stunning final round of 64 to overturn a seven-shot deficit and claim the Porsche European Open.
Samooja fired eight birdies, including three in the last four holes, to establish a new course record and set the clubhouse target on six under par, with the final groups still having nine holes to play.
Perez, who was seeking back-to-back victories after winning the Dutch Open last week, birdied the 10th and 11th in Germany to move into a share of the lead, only to bogey three of the next four holes.
Holland’s Wil Besseling then got within a shot of Samooja when he birdied the 13th but ran up a double bogey on the 15th which included a dreaded shank with his fourth shot.
Besseling bounced back to birdie the next, but when he bogeyed the 17th Samooja’s victory was effectively assured.
A birdie on the 18th meant Besseling secured outright second place on four under, with Perez and England’s Richard Mansell sharing third on three under.
An emotional Samooja, 34, fought back tears as he said: “It’s truly special. It’s been a long journey, been close a few times.
“We had a number in mind today and we reached that, we thought it might be enough and it was a long two-hour wait at the clubhouse to see guys battle it out and fortunately it was enough.
“We were pretty sure it’s going to be a play-off or that we might even miss the play-off. I was just hoping to get a solo second and get a ticket to the US Open but this is a little better.”
Ten places in the year’s third major championship were available via a mini order of merit from the last four DP World Tour events, with Samooja joined at Brookline by Perez, Besseling, Mansell, Ryan Fox, Thorbjorn Olesen, Sam Horsfield, Sebastian Soderberg, Yannik Paul and Marcel Schneider.
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent secured back-to-back wins with victory in the International Series England, the first Asian Tour event to be staged in the UK.
Vincent, who won the Mizuno Open on the Japan Tour the previous Sunday, carded a final round of 66 at Slaley Hall to finish 12 under par, a shot ahead of Australia’s Travis Smyth, who bogeyed the 72nd hole.
Smyth had the consolation of securing one of the two places on offer for the highest finishers, who were not otherwise exempt, in the £20 million LIV Golf Invitational event at Centurion Club this weekend.
Former world No 1 Dustin Johnson headlines the controversial Saudi-backed event, with one place left in the 48-man field.
Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson remains heavily linked with the project, despite his explosive comments about Saudi Arabia and the PGA Tour causing LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to abandon plans for a 14-event league and schedule just eight events in 2022.