England’s Marcus Higley birdied the final three holes of the Thomas Björn Open to record his first victory on the European Challenge Tour at Horsens GK in Denmark – and then revealed the debt of gratitude he owes his trainee psychologist girlfriend, Elizabeth.
The 32 year old from Yeovil in Somerset closed with a 67 for an 11 under par total of 277 and a two stroke winning margin over fellow countrymen Gareth Davies and Denny Lucas and Italy’s Alessio Bruschi.
Victory carried the Englishman into third place on the Challenge Tour Rankings with €37,586 and within sight of his life’s ambition of a place on The European Tour in 2007.
Higley, who has made nine unsuccessful assaults on the Final Stage of The European Tour Qualifying School, admitted: “I was feeling a bit down heartened after my third round 73, which left me three shots off the lead. However my girlfriend is currently training to be a psychologist through the Open University and she gave me a bit of a pep talk.
“She managed to turn my mood around, to be more positive and to set my goals again. She said that I should target on getting into double figures for the tournament. She was right – I didn’t need to get to 11 under, ten would have been enough to win!”
However Higley did get to 11 under par just for good measure with a blistering finish, in which any of the top five players in the field had opportunities to win. At the 16th, Higley struck the flag with a six iron and sank the three foot birdie putt to tie Davies, already in the clubhouse at nine under.
He then played his approach to 2 inches for a further birdie at the 17th and finished off by chipping to four feet for his third consecutive birdie and a two stroke victory.
Higley attributed his recent improved form to a recent association with coach Cliver Tucker, whom fellow Englishman David Howell credits for helping turn him into Europe’s current Order of Merit leader and a Ryder Cup winner in 2004.
He said: “I felt I wasn’t improving at the rate I wanted or expected, but I liked the fact that Clive seemed to have helped improve David’s swing while keeping him competitive. I didn’t even know him but phoned out of the blue and he agreed to take me on. It was the right time to change – and the right change to make.”
Davies birdied all five par fives to shoot a closing 66 and a share of second place along with third round leader, Michiel Bothma, Lucas – who finished with a 67 – and Bruschi (68).
