Hampshire’s Sam Hutsby came out on top in a six-man play-off to secure his first Challenge Tour title for over eight years at the Andalucía Challenge de Cádiz in Spain.
The Portsmouth player carded a final round of 71 to move to a 15 under alongside Filippo Celli, Nicolai Kristensen, Jesper Svensson, Clément Berardo and Julien Sale at Iberostar Real Golf Novo Sancti Petri to set up a dramatic play-off.
Celli, Berardo and Kristensen fell at the first hurdle before Hutsby made par at the third extra hole to defeat Sale, who could only manage a bogey.
Hutsby, 34, who won the 2014 Kazakhstan Open, was delighted to secure his second Challenge Tour title in Cádiz and admitted to feeling confident ahead of the extra holes having prevailed in a six-man play-off at Qualifying School last year.
“I’m so emotional right now,” he said. “2014 was my last win on the Challenge Tour and most of the young guys coming through are so fearless. I got off to the worst possible start with a double-bogey on the first but I managed to get my head back down and use my experience to bounce back. I had to keep reminding myself that I was still in the tournament. When it went to a play-off I was quietly confident because I’ve won about 15 play-offs in my career. I’ve always been very confident in those situations, and I actually won a six-man play-off at the Second Stage of Qualifying School last year. I’ve got some amazing memories in the game, but this is right up there.”
He added: “I hope to take a lot of confidence from this win. I’ve always said that the standard on the Challenge Tour is incredible and that is proved by the amount of guys that go on to do so well on the DP World Tour. It’s so easy to get down in this game and my season hasn’t been going the way I would have liked until now.”
The win moved Hutsby up to 21st on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca ranking, with the top 15 earning promotion to the DP World Tour at the end of the season.