Sunday really was a day for tight sporting battles in the United Kingdom. England won the Cricket World Cup by the finest of margins in a SUPER OVER after drawing with New Zealand, whilst Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in a relentless, record-setting fifth-set tie-break. The memo reached Scotland in time for Frenchman Benjamin Hebert to force a dramatic three-hole playoff with Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger thanks to a scintillating Sunday at The Renaissance Club.

How it Happened

Wiesberger entered the final round with a two-stroke lead over Erik Van Rooyen and looked comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. However, he failed to follow suit as several men took advantage of kind conditions to shoot low. A hard-fought 2-under 69 took him to -22 for the tournament after firing the round of the week with a Friday 61 featuring eleven birdies.

Van Rooyen dropped from fierce challenger to dead & buried inside two holes; following up a birdie at the first with a quadruple-bogey at the second. However, Hebert managed a bogey-free 62 to overturn a 7-stroke deficit for a share of the lead. A pair of pars on the first extra hole was followed by Hebert’s first bogey in 35 holes, although Wiesberger matched that score. But the Austrian’s experience prevailed as Hebert compounded his error with another bogey to Wiesberger’s par on the third extra hole.

It was a second win of the season, sixth on the European Tour and first in the Rolex Series for the 33-year-old. The title comes a week after an impressive T2 at the Irish Open… Watch out Royal Portrush!

Open Qualifiers

Despite the disappointment of a playoff loss, Hebert can seek solace in an Open Championship berth along with Italian Nino Bertasio (4^th) and South African Dylan Frittelli, who won the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic. The headlines, though, will go to Andrew “Beef” Johnston. Just ten days after opening up about his mental health struggles in a gallant & honest article in the European Tour’s Player Blog, the fan-favourite pulled off an incredible 62 of his own to clinch an improbable place at The Open.  He won’t be short of support at Portrush.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com