American John Catlin won the Andalucía Masters after holding off the challenge of Martin Kaymer in a thrilling battle during the final round at Valderrama in Spain.
The 29-year-old Californian, who has won four times on the Asian Tour, showed nerves of steel as he fended off the attentions of the former world No.1 down the stretch and a four-over-par-75 was good enough to see him claim his first European Tour title.
Catlin had started the day two shots clear at the top, but bogeys at 5, 10 12 and 14 meant that Kaymer – who birdied 2, 4 and 12 – pulled level to set up a dramatic finale at the former Ryder Cup venue.
Kaymer missed a golden opportunity to take the lead at 17, missing a six-foot birdie putt, and Catlin kept his composure with a delightful lag putt at the final hole to two feet. Kaymer had to hole his chip from the edge of the green to keep his chances alive and he almost did just that, but his bogey meant Catlin’s tap-in par sealed victory to seal a two-over-par total.
It brought an to end four days of tough scoring at one of Europe’s most challenging courses, which saw the cut come in at eight over par, and many players humbled with scores in the 80s.
Catlin said: “Winning in Europe was my goal at the start of 2019, so to have actually accomplished that is pretty hard to put into words right now. Valderrama is very difficult – the hardest part was just hitting the fairways. The wind is cross-breeze on most of them, so if you get any kind of wrong spin going you can end up in the rough and the greens got firmer as the week went on. Thankfully I managed to make the fairway on 18 and that might have been the difference.
With a two-year exemption in the bag, Catlin is now planning a full European Tour schedule. He said: “I’m massively excited to play the big European events. I’d planned on playing everything for the rest of the year, but being able to pick and choose is very exciting. I’m really looking forward to playing in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. That’s such a world-class event, I’ve been watching it on TV for the last 15 years, so have the opportunity to play that tournament is amazing. ”