American Kevin Carissimi, who is based in Nice, stormed through the field with a superb last round of 66 to win the Diners Club Austrian Open at Milstätter See.
It was his first victory for two years and his 11-under-par total of 269 left him two strokes clear of Austria’s Markus Brier, Per Jacobson of Sweden and England’s David R Jones.
Carissimi had considered withdrawing from the event following the KB Challenge the previous week in the Czech Republic. “I felt so tired in Prague that I told my friend, Henrik Jentsch, to drive me to Saltzberg where I could get a train to Nice,” said Carissimi. “But he refused saying ‘you are going to play’. I’m glad he did.
“I have felt so calm and relaxed here, the people are so kind and my game improved. I drove the ball well and holed some important putts so I have Henrik to thank for it all.”
Persistent rain which waterlogged the greens, plus low cloud, plagued the tournament for the first two days and the second round was only completed at midday Saturday. But, thanks to the greenstaff and the players, everything was back on track by Saturday evening when Jones led by one from Jacobson.
Jones had been in the top-two throughout and was looking for his first European Challenge Tour victory since 1991. He started the final round two ahead of Carissimi and that was still the margin with nine to play. But then Jones’s luck began to run out. He bogeyed the tenth and 12th, both par-threes, and with Carissimi, playing ahead, making a birdie at the 359-yards 13th, the American was in front.
Although Jones picked up a shot at the 15th , Carissimi did the same while a further birdie at the 15th saw him home with two shots to spare. Jones carded a level-par 70, his worst round of the week and admitted: “I just played badly today. Normally my approach shots are pin-high but today there were too long or too short while I couldn’t get any putts to drop.”
As the sun shone so the scoring brightened up. Sheffield’s John Mellor, winner in the Ivory Coast back in March, shot 67 for 273 and joint fifth place with New Zealand’s Stephen Scahill, who returned 66, while Italy’s Federico Bisazza signed for a 64 and 274. His compatriot, Alberto Binaghi, carded a 65, missing two short putts on the back nine, a score matched by Neal Briggs, the pair finishing joint 15th on 277.
Alain de Soultrait, European Challenge Tour Managing Director, paid tribute to all involved when he said afterwards: “Without the support of our sponsors, Diners Club, the promoters, Matchmaker, the Milstätter Club, and the players, we wouldn’t have got through what was a difficult week.”
