Englandâs Danny Willett scaled to the top of the leaderboard by closing with a flawless five-under-par 65 to win the Omega European Masters on Sunday.
Victory was especially sweet for Willett as the Swiss showpiece was his third victory as a professional and beat his previous best finish of tied-second at the Omega European Masters in 2012.
Willett, who shared the overnight lead with compatriot Matthew Fitzpatrick, signed off with a winning total of 17-under-par 263 to finish one shot ahead of Fitzpatrick after the former US amateur champion failed to birdie 18 which would have forced a play-off.
âIt was a great day. I played some really good golf. Matt [Fitzpatrick] was snapping at my heels all day, so Iâm delighted to get the job done. I kept really calm all day, and just waited for the chances to come. Winning is always tough, and the heart rate on 18 was pretty high. Iâve worked really hard so itâs nice to get the rewards for it,â said Willett.
Englandâs Tyrrell Hatton carded the dayâs lowest score of 62 to take third place while Swedenâs Pelle Edberg enjoyed the best result of his season with a fourth-placed finish after a 63.
Indiaâs Anirban Lahiri emerged as the highest-placed Asian when his closing 64 saw him take outright fifth place at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
Despite being denied another grandstand finish, Lahiri, who had already won twice on the Asian Tour this season, believes he will return as another genuine contender with the invaluable experience gained.
âThe experience of being here many times showed especially on the greens. There were some tricky pins which Iâve seen before and having been here a few times, you now know where to hit it, how itâs going to break and that made a massive difference,â said Lahiri.
After being left disappointed with a third round 70, Lahiri responded perfectly by trading seven birdies against one bogey to sign off convincingly.
âIt was a relief (to finish well) as Iâve been playing well but just havenât been able to put a together a good round.
âIt was a good feeling to play well on the back-nine as I had been struggling there the last few rounds. Itâs good to finish with a 64 as I did the exact same thing with a 64 last year too,â said Lahiri.
The final round challenge from Korean-American David Lipsky, who was hoping to become the first player to successfully defend his Omega European Masters title since Seve Ballesteros (1977-78), did not materialise as the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion struggled to a 73 and finished tied for 16th.
The Omega European Masters is the only event on European soil to be jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour since 2009.
Leading scores after round 4 of the Omega European Masters being played at the par 70, 6848 Yards Crans-sur-Sierre GC course (am – denotes amateur):
263 – Danny WILLETT (ENG) 65-62-71-65.
264 – Matthew FITZPATRICK (ENG) 69-65-64-66.
265 – Tyrrell HATTON (ENG) 65-68-70-62.
266 – Pelle EDBERG (SWE) 65-72-66-63.
268 – Anirban LAHIRI (IND) 67-67-70-64.
269 – Sergio GARCIA (ESP) 69-70-66-64.
270 – Florian FRITSCH (GER) 70-66-70-64, Raphael JACQUELIN (FRA) 68-64-68-70.
271 – Rikard KARLBERG (SWE) 65-67-74-65.
Selected scores
274 – Patrick REED (USA) 67-69-69-69,Y.E. YANG (KOR) 65-63-74-72, David LIPSKY (USA) 66-66-69-73.
