Sunday 29 March 2015 22:15, UK
Richie Ramsay secured his third European Tour title with a narrow one-shot victory at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco.
Sharing the overnight lead with Romain Wattel and compatriot Andrew McArthur, Ramsay's up-and-down final round, a three-under 69 was enough to hold off the Frenchman and earn his first title since the 2012 Omega European Masters.
The world No 126 made a blistering start by carding four birdies in a row from the third, but squandered a three-shot lead in the space of two holes by three-putting the seventh and running up a triple-bogey six on the eighth, where he saw two chips roll back down a steep slope to his feet.
That dropped Ramsay to seven-under and two off leader Wattel, although the Scot responded by posting three successive gains from the 12th, including a 12-foot birdie on the 14th, to regain his advantage.
After narrowly failing to make it four in a row on the 15th, Ramsay had a lucky escape at the 17th when his wayward tee-shot pulled up just short of the bushes, allowing him to get it back on the fairway and save par.
Wattel kept up the pressure by bouncing back from three-putting the 14th by holing a par-save chip at the next to stay within two of the lead, missing a 12-foot birdie at the 16th to half the deficit.
A two-putt birdie on the 17th from Wattel closed the gap to a single shot, but with Ramsay safely making par on the last to finish 10-under, the Frenchman needed another birdie on the 18th to force a play-off but was only able to make par.
Close field
Six players shared third place on eight under, including South African George Coetzee, who had needed to win to move into the world's top 50 and qualify for the Masters.
Kevin Phelan and Jaco Van Zyl both posted final-round 70s to join Coetzee, Spain's Pablo Larrazabal, Sweden's Mikael Lundberg and England's Chris Wood on eight-under for the week.
Lundberg had birdied the 17th to stay in contention, but bogeyed the 18th to finish eight-under, while Wood had set the early clubhouse target thanks to a closing 67, with former Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal a further shot back after six birdies on the back nine.
“I didn’t expect this earlier in the week to be honest,” Olazabal said. “Yesterday everything seemed to fit in on the back nine.
“I felt better with my game, I hit better shots and managed to make a bunch of putts and today was similar to that, so really happy with the score.”
