Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth claimed his maiden European Tour title when he birdied the second hole of a sudden-death play-off to defeat Australian Stephen Leaney in the Carlsberg Malaysian Open at Royal Selangor Golf Club.
Forsyth has led from the start after opening with a course record 63 and started the final round with a two shot lead. But after reaching the turn in 34, the 26 year old from Paisley dropped three shots in the next five holes to relinquish the lead for the first time.
But Forsyth dug deep and bounced back with successive birdies on the 16th and 17th, holing from three feet and ten feet respectively, to move back into a tie for the lead with Leaney. When both players parred the 462 yards 18th, the tournament, joint sanctioned by The European Tour and the Davidoff Tour, moved into sudden-death with both players tied on 17 under par 267.
Both players made regulation pars the first time around, Forsyth saving his four after hitting an eight iron just through the back of the green while Leaney safely two putted. The players returned to the tee with Leaney driving in the semi-rough on the right and Forsyth hitting the perfect drive down the middle.
Leaney’s approach finished well short of the hole but Forsyth, faced with 160 yards to the flag, hit an outstanding nine iron to 15 feet. With Leaney unable to hole out from 50 feet, Forsyth stepped up to his putt and calmly stroked the ball home.
Forsyth becomes the sixth first-time winner on The 2002 European Tour International Schedule and the second wire-to-wire winner following Ernie Els in Perth. Victory earned him 184,366 euro (£112,894) and lifted him to sixth in the Volvo Order of Merit. More importantly, after Forsyth lost his European Tour card by the narrowest of margins when he finished 116th in the 2001 Volvo Order of Merit, he earns a two year exemption.
“It feels fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” said Forsyth. “I played well all week but around the turn today I started to drop a couple of shots, Stephen was picking up shots and it was drifting away from me. But I managed to dig deep and kept telling myself I was still in it. I made a good birdie on the 16th and holed a good putt on the 17th green and suddenly I was tied for the lead again.
“I almost had it in the bag at one point when I was three shots ahead and felt I was nearly cruising. To lose it and win it again was unbelievable.
"When I got to the two play-off holes I was on auto-pilot. Stephen is too steady, too good a player and I knew he wasn’t going to make bogey so I said to my caddie, Paddy Byrne, on the second play-off hole that if we wanted to win this we had to make birdie.
“The putt was just outside the right edge of the hole. I hit it perfectly and looked up and it just did everything I thought it should do and turned in perfectly. I couldn’t believe it.”
For Leaney there was some consolation in the fact that he only dropped one shot all week in compiling rounds of 67-67-66-67 for a 17 under par total of 267 on his way to earning 127,040 euro (£77,791). With three holes to play Leaney was in the driving seat with a putt on the 16th to pull two clear of the field but Forsyth clawed his way back to force the play-off.
“I felt I had the tournament in my hands on the 16th green,” said Leaney. “I had about a 12 foot putt to go two in front and it was disappointing not to hole that. But Alastair birdied the 16th and 17th and we both had chances on the 18th. But he played well. He showed some guts coming down the stretch because he struggled mid round. He made a couple of mistakes but to his credit he came back with some good birdies and it was a good putt to win the title.”
Alex Cejka almost joined them in the play-off after a blistering final round of 65 to come from six strokes behind at the start of the final day to leading with one hole to play. But after pushing his drive into the trees on the right, the German was unable to reach the green. He chipped up to ten feet but his par putt to stay on 17 under par pulled up half a roll short of the cup.
“I actually never thought I could be right up there,” said Cejka. “I thought the course was playing pretty easy and I was five or six shots behind. These players can easily shoot three or four under but it is the final day and everyone is playing a little safe so you never know. It was unlucky that final putt came up short.”
The Spanish pair of Ignacio Garrido and Miguel Angel Martin shared fourth place on 270, 14 under par, while a further shot back Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng led the Davidoff Tour challenge on 13 under par.
