Iain Pyman completed a magnificent seventh European Challenge Tour victory at the Telia Challenge Waxholm – his second win in seven days – to storm into contention for a place on The 2008 European Tour.
The Englishman, who led by a stroke from countryman Robert Coles and Welshman Jamie Donaldson going into the last day, carded a fine final round of six under par 66 at the Waxholm Golf Club in Stockholm to win by two from Coles, with Germany’s Benjamin Miarka taking third place after a brilliant 65.
It was quite a performance from Pyman as he joins Warren Bennett as the most prolific winners in Challenge Tour history, both men having won seven times in their Challenge Tour careers.
The 34 year old was in total control of his game throughout the final round, reaching the turn in four under before cruising down the home stretch with two birdies on the back nine to take the €20,028 first prize.
He did have to resist Coles’s challenge coming down the stretch, although, if the truth be told, Pyman could have won by a wider margin had he not lipped out for birdie on a few occasions on that back nine.
“It’s a very nice feeling to have won two in a row,” said Pyman, who scooped last week’s ECCO Tour Championship before his Swedish success.
“It was a lot tougher to win this week than last week but that is mainly down to the fact that it’s very hard to win two tournaments back to back. I knew that it was going to be tough to do but I played really well today.
“It turned out to be quite a comfortable win but it certainly didn’t feel like that when Robert Coles started making a few birdies in the back nine and I seemed to be lipping out from everywhere!
“But I managed to get the job done and set up a real chance of getting my Tour card – either through the top 20 on the Rankings or maybe even winning another tournament.”
Pyman joins Robert Dinwiddie, Joost Luiten , Ross McGowan and Edoardo Molinari as a double Challenge Tour champion and will join that quartet in seeking instant promotion to The European Tour by winning a third title this season.
