Catlin wins first title to thwart Kaymer

A MONTH after being removed from an event for breaching Covid-19 protocols, John Catlin won his maiden European Tour title in the Andalucia Masters as Martin Kaymer squandered the chance to end a six-year victory drought.

Catlin, who was withdrawn from the English Championship after visiting a restaurant outside the tournament bubble, carded a birdie-free closing 75 at Valderrama to finish two over par, a shot ahead of former world No.1 Kaymer.

Kaymer missed close-range birdie chances on the 16th and 17th and then bogeyed the last when he found sand with his approach and saw his lengthy par putt pull up agonisingly short of the hole.

Playing partner Catlin, who took a two-shot lead into the final round, had got up and down for par from over the back of the 17th green and held his nerve to par the last and secure victory by a single shot.

“It’s awesome,” said Catlin, who joins Tiger Woods as the only American players to win at Valderrama. “Tiger is the guy that I grew up idolising. I hope one day I can play against him, that’s my dream. To have won on a golf course that he’s won on is very special.

“I don’t think it’s quite sunk in that I’ve finally actually won but that was my goal at the start of 2019 to win on the European Tour. I wasn’t able to do it last year so it’s very, very nice to be able to get it done this week, especially on a beautiful golf course and one that’s very, very demanding. The nerves were going nuts the whole round. It’s the biggest win of my career for sure.”

Asked about the incident which led to he and his caddie being withdrawn before the start of the English Championship at

Hanbury Manor, Catlin said: “There’s no real excuse for what happened, I should have known better and I used it as a kind of wake-up call. I’d finished a practice round at about 8.45pm and we were staying at a hotel by Stansted Airport which was about 45 minutes’ drive away. I didn’t want to drive all the way back and not have them serve food and so I made a very poor judgement call and stopped into a pub.”

Scotland’s Connor Syme finished joint eighth after a 74 left him on seven over, while compatriots Robert MacIntyre and Ewen Ferguson were joint 24th, a further three shots behind after a 70 and 72 respectively.