Frenchman Edouard Dubois completed a near flawless performance at the Scottish Hydro Challenge over the Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Course to take the title and the €35,200 first prize that rocketed him to the top of the Challenge Tour Rankings.
Dubois’ victory, his second Challenge Tour win in the space of just three weeks, was remarkable given the fact that he literally made just one mistake over the course of 72 holes, with his only bogey of the week coming at the extremely difficult 12th hole during his final round 69.
That two under par effort was good enough to take the title by a single stroke from third round leader Matthew Southgate of England, with Welshman Sion Bebb and England’s Sam Hutsby wangling their way into a share of third place after a pair of brilliant 65s saw them finish the week on 11 under.
Italy’s Federico Colomo and Norwegian Espen Koftstad shared fifth place on ten under, but the day belonged to Dubois, whose unerring accuracy and brilliant ball-striking helped him keep the bogeys off the card despite the plethora of difficulties to be found around an extremely tough Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Course.
If the Frenchman can win a third title this season he will win instant promotion to The European Tour.
“It is an amazing feeling to win again so soon,” smiled Dubois as he clutched the Scottish Hydro Challenge Trophy and the cheque that boosted his season’s earnings to €66,803.
“To win twice in the space of three weeks is fantastic and now I will try to win my third event so that I can go automatically to The European Tour. If I cannot win the third title then I will try to get enough good results to win the Challenge Tour, that would also be very nice.
“I know that the last person to win three times on the Challenge Tour was Edoardo Molinari and that is something for me to try and follow. I might not make the next Ryder Cup Team the way that Edoardo did last year but if I can follow him to The European Tour I will be happy!”
While Dubois hoisted the winner’s trophy high, Scotland’s Chris Doak was awarded with the Douglas Brodie Lowe Memorial Trophy, a new award for the leading Scotsman in the field that will become an annual feature of the tournament in memory of the Herald Newspaper correspondent who passed away earlier this year after a short illness.
Doak, who finished the week on eight under par and in a tie for eighth place, was presented with the trophy by Douglas’s son, Stewart, and sister, Alison.
He said: “It’s a great honour to receive this trophy for the first time. I knew Dougie well and he was a lovely guy who really cared and did a lot for Scottish golf. He will be really missed at all of our tournaments but this award will go some way to make sure we do not forget him.”
