Welshman Craig Williams sank a stunning 40 foot putt to win a four man, sudden-death play-off and capture the inaugural Ryder Cup Wales Challenge at the De Vere Northop Country Park Golf Club.
Williams, 25, who secured a cheque for €20,000, birdied the first extra hole to pip the English trio of Robert Coles, Robert Rock and Sam Walker for the title, after all four men had completed the regulation 72 holes in 17 under par 267.
The four way tie meant they had to go back to the eighteenth tee, with all four players finding the fairway with their drives. Walker put his second shot closest to the pin at around 15 feet, with Williams landing his ball 40 feet from the flag.
Both Coles and Rock came up short of the last green and pitched up before Williams rammed his birdie putt into the back of the cup, and clenched his fist in celebration – much to the delight of the Welsh crowds.
“It’s fantastic to win here – especially seeing that we’re in Wales,” said Williams, who won the Welsh Amateur Strokeplay Championship at the same venue in 1999.
“I did have a feeling the putt might go in. I saw the line of it and knew it was going to be close but then when it got to within six feet of the hole I got a bit worried about it!”
This was Williams’s first European Challenge Tour victory in just his 13th event, with his previous best career performance was 18th at the 2003 Talma Finnish Challenge. He now moves to 39th on the Rankings with €27,754.
He is the first Welshman to win any European Tour event in Wales since Brian Huggett at the 1992 Gary Players Seniors Classic on the European Seniors Tour at St Pierre.
It might have been different story if Williams had not consulted Walker, his playing partner for the last round, about his score. The Welshman was 16 under coming down the 16th hole, but thought he was minus 15!
“That was funny actually,” he explained. “I was walking down the 16th and I had a look at the scoreboard and saw I was 16 under. I though I was 15 under and was just about to go over and tell the guy at the scoreboard that he had made a mistake when I asked Sam what my score was.
“He told me I was 16 and then I realised he was right when I counted it back – but I could have really mucked it up for myself if I hadn’t asked Sam!
“But it’s been a brilliant week for me, because I thought my season was over before I got the invite to come up here and play. I missed out at the Qualifying School Stage One a couple of weeks ago and was thinking that I was facing a long winter.
“But now I have got a chance to get back to the Qualifying School – I might even get to the Final Stage if I can play well next week and get into the top 45 on the Challenge Tour Rankings, which would get me into the Grand Final as well.”
