Englishman Gary Emerson secured his maiden European Tour title at the dual ranking BMW Russian Open after a closing round of four under par 68 gave him a four round total of 16 under par 272 to leave him two shots clear of Austria's Markus Brier.
Welshman Kyron Sullivan took third place on 13 under, with Mattias Eliasson of Sweden a shot further back in fourth place.
Emerson, who played 35 holes during the final day at Le Meridien Moscow Country Club after Saturday’s suspension of play due to incessant rainfall, is the 300th player to win on The European Tour International Schedule and becomes the second player – after Australian Marcus Fraser last year – to win the BMW Russian Open on his first visit to Moscow.
The 40 year old, who has played on The European Tour for ten seasons, was delighted to have secured the biggest win – and winner’s cheque for €67,902 – of his career.
What is more important to Emerson, though, is the fact that with his win, he has regained his full playing rights on The European Tour for the remainder of the 2004 season, as well as the whole of 2005.
He said: “It’s fantastic to have won a main Tour title, I’m delighted because I was playing under pressure and I came through it. I was really pleased with the way I played the back nine.
“I’ve played on the Tour for ten years and lost my Card last season so I feel as though I have got my job back to be honest. I have been playing the best golf of my career this year and to win on The European Tour, which is what we all want to try and achieve is fantastic.
“Today, I just played really solid. I birdied the first and the second holes which was a great start and then things went a bit flat and I was leaving a lot of my putts short. But then I holed a birdie putt on the 14th which was a big putt and gave me my confidence back and helped to birdie 16 and 17.
“When I was standing over my putt on the 17th I noticed that Markus had gone to 14 under so that was a really important one and it was nice to see it going in.”
Emerson moves to 105th on the Volvo Order of Merit with seasons earnings of €142,102, while Brier moves seven places above him with €158,512. For Sullivan, his third place finish has accelerated him into the European Challenge Tour’s coveted top 15.
The Welshman now lies eighth on the Rankings with €39,430 and will join Emerson on The European Tour if he can hold onto that position come the end of the Challenge Tour season at the Bouyges Telecom Challenge Tour Grand Final in October.
