Robert-Jan Derksen holed a brilliant 15 foot birdie putt on the 72nd and final hole to secure the second European Tour victory of his career at the dual ranking Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos. The Dutchman posted a four round total of 13 under par 275 to take the €100,000 first prize ahead of South Africa’s Andrew McLardy and Scotland’s Gary Orr.
Derksen started the day on eight under par, one behind McLardy and level with Orr – both of whom were in the group behind the Dutchman. By the time Derksen got to the 18th tee in his final round, he was tied at the top of the leaderboard with Orr on 12 under, and knew that he needed a birdie to pile the pressure on the Scotsman in the group behind him.
The 31 year old, who won the Dubai Desert Classic in 2003, did just that, sinking a 15 foot putt on the last green to take pole position in the clubhouse, and leaving Orr needing to emulate that birdie on the last to force a play-off.
The Scotsman fired a great drive down the last, but when he got to his ball found that he was between clubs for his approach to the green, and as a result came up short of the putting surface and made a bogey five from there, allowing McLardy to move into a tie for second place, both players winning €52,110.
Ireland’s David Higgins took fourth place after a final round 69 gave him a ten under aggregate, and as a result moved to the top of the Challenge Tour Rankings, with Tom Whitehouse, who scored a hole in one on the par three 15th hole, in fifth position.
But the day belonged to Derksen, who becomes the first player from the Netherlands to record multiple wins on The European Tour and whose victory is the 133rd European Tour win by a former Challenge Tour player.
“Obviously I am delighted to have won,” smiled Derksen. My birdie on the 18th was excellent and really won the tournament for me because when I was playing the hole I was level with Gary and didn’t think he would finish with a bogey, so it was a great birdie.
“I have been coming to Madeira the past eight years and I really like the place. I felt confident and comfortable coming here. I really enjoy the place so this win means a lot to me.
“When I was going out for the final round today, I thought that a 68 would be good enough to do it and I shot 67 to win by two so it seems my prediction was right. It’s great to have won again on The European Tour and I am now exempt until the end of the 2006 season so that is something I won’t have to worry about for a while.
“I think there will definitely be some celebrations going on back in my home town of Nijmegen in Holland after this result – but I won’t be able to join them until after next week because I am playing in Spain next week!”
