Surrey’s Ross McGowan returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in four years as he clinched a pillar-to-post victory at the D+D REAL Czech Challenge.
The Banstead Downs player, whose last win came on the Sunshine Tour in 2015, fired rounds of 66, 66, 66 and 68 for an 18-under-par total, to secure a four-stroke triumph.
After sharing the lead at the end of the opening round, the 37-year-old broke away to take control at Kaskáda Golf Resort, holding a two-shot advantage ahead of the final day. He quickly extended his lead on Sunday with consecutive birdies on the fourth and fifth holes, reaching the turn bogey-free as he surged toward the title in Brno.
His third gain of the day came at the par-four 13th to stretch the lead to three shots, and even when the 2009 Madrid Masters champion made a bogey on the 16th, he gained it back on the following hole.
With his closest rival, Ricardo Santos, dropping a shot on the last, McGowan, who finished second and third in the 2015 and 2014 D+D REAL Czech Challenge events, respectively, calmly two-putted for par to claim his first win in Europe for ten years.
“I played a couple of the events at the course in Dříteč and finished second and third there, so it’s nice to go one better and win the tournament,” he said. “It was a strange day. because no one was really making a charge at me and I was ticking along, hitting fairways and greens. I was expecting someone to have a few birdies out there, but the pins were tough. I kept hitting it to within 15-20 feet, two putting for par, and then moving on.
“At 15 I was fairly confident the title was mine. I laid up and then hit a nice sand wedge into eight feet and unfortunately missed the birdie putt, but I was hitting good putts all day, which was important. With a lot more Challenge Tour tournaments, winning is really key, and hopefully I can sneak another one or two by the end of the year.”
The €32,000 first prize saw McGowan leap up from 127th to third in the Challenge Tour rankings. The top 15 at the end of the season earn a European Tour card for 2020.