Barry Lane overcame his self-proclaimed ‘terrible play-off record’ by birdieing the second extra hole to win the Staysure Senior Italian Open at Villaverde Resort.
The 58-year-old Englishman, who lost three play-offs on the European Tour, and also previously came up short in a six-hole play-off at the 2014 MCB Tour Championship on the Staysure Tour, produced some of his best golf when it mattered the most — birdieing the final hole of regulation play, and then repeating the feat on the second extra hole to defeat Frenchman Marc Farry.
“I’ve been just terrible in play-offs, but you can’t worry about that,” he said. “You’ve just got to play your game and keep your foot to the pedal.”
Lane stiffed his approach in the second hole of extra time, and then walked in his eight-foot birdie putt when it was halfway to the cup. “I watched a couple of the guys putt that one, and as soon as it was a few feet from the hole, I knew it was in,” he said.
The win marks Lane’s seventh victory on the Staysure Tour and also adds to the five European Tour trophies he has lifted in his career. The Kent man last won on the over-50s circuit in 2017, at the Willow Senior Golf Classic, but his triumph in Italy might not have happened had it not been for a long car ride in America, following a disappointing performance at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship last week.
“I’ve played so poorly the last few weeks,” he said. “I had a very long, six-hour drive from Rochester to the airport in New York and I said to my wife Camilla, ‘You know, I’ve always been the same. When I practice really hard and work on something I can’t get it out of my mind and I go out onto the golf course trying to do that, instead of just playing golf. So I said, ‘Next week that’s all I’m going to do is just play golf and try to score, and that’s exactly what I did.’”
Despite never leading the Senior Italian Open until it was over, Lane hung around the top of the leaderboard, carding only four bogeys for the week, and was ultimately thrilled with his effort.
“That’s why we’re out here – to win golf tournaments,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling, you never lose the love of winning. But you never know when then that might happen again, as the standard out here in incredible.”