RTÉ.ie
Korea’s Wang Jeunghun claimed his first European Tour title in amazing fashion by beating Spain’s Nacho Elvira in a play-off for the Hassan Trophy in Rabat.
Wang birdied the 18th to force extra holes and repeated the trick twice in the play-off at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam after he and Elvira had finished tied on five under par, a shot ahead of England’s Robert Rock and France’s Clement Bernardo.
Elvira had birdied three of his last six holes to card a closing 69 and set a clubhouse target which only Wang was able to match with a birdie from 15 feet on the 72nd hole.
The players returned to the 18th for extra holes and Elvira looked set for victory when he hit a stunning fairway wood onto the green on the 531-yard par five and Wang missed the green, only for Wang to chip on and hole from 35 feet.
Elvira was unable to convert his eagle attempt and then missed the green with his approach at the second time of asking, leaving Wang clear to make a winning birdie.
“I’m so excited right now, I don’t think I will sleep tonight,” said the 20-year-old, who was second in the Indian Open in March and saw fellow Korean Soomin Lee win in China a fortnight ago.
“Soomin is a good friend of mine and I am so happy that he won the Shenzhen International. I win also so maybe I’ll party with Soomin.”
Asked about Elvira’s approach to the first play-off hole, Wang added on Sky Sports: “That shot was really fantastic and then I miss on the right so I was just trying to make a birdie with a hard chip. Actually I didn’t think about birdie, I didn’t think about anything, I just putted and it went in.”
Paul Dunne was the best of the Irish, carding a two-over-par 74 to finish on three-over for the tournament, tied 16th.
Peter Lawrie had threatened the leaders after two days but he fell away badly, signing off with a six-over 78 to end in a tie for 43rd on seven-over. Gary Hurley was a shot further back following his closing 74, with Kevin Phelan 10-over after his last-day 76.
After overnight leader Chris Hanson had double-bogeyed the eighth, Berardo held the outright lead for much of the day and reached six under par with a birdie on the 13th, only to bogey three of the next four holes.
Rock had briefly held a share of the lead when he also picked up his third shot of the day on 13, but bogeyed the 15th and 16th before closing with a birdie on the last.
“It’s a little bit tough to take,” said the 39-year-old Rock, who held off the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to win his second European Tour title in Abu Dhabi in 2012. “I played really well; the plan was always to try to get to five under and then consolidate. I did the first part well, but not the second part.
“The wedge shot on 15 went too far and then the eight iron into the 16th didn’t go far enough. So that was the difference between finishing third and winning, or at least getting into the play-off. So it’s frustrating, especially as I also shaved the edge of the hole on the 17th.
“It’s sometimes difficult to see the positives straight after you’ve just missed out on winning, but there are some great tournaments coming up so it’ll be nice to go into them knowing my game is in pretty decent shape.”
