Jonathan Yates fired his best round of the week – a three-under par 65 – to help himself to a top-20 finish at the Alps Tour’s Cervino Open.
The Naas professional posted three birdies in a blemish-free final effort to take a tie for 17th at five-under par for the tournament and collected a cheque worth €660 for the effort.
Good friend Peter Dallat matched the 65 of Yates on the final day, also going bogey-free to bank an encouraging top-30 finish at four-under par.
After a closely fought final round at the summit, Jordi Garcia del Moral emerged the victor of the Cervino Open with an overall 189 (-15). His win keeps him at number 2 on the Order of Merit.
Teeing off in the last group at 9.28am, there was a moment of doubt for the Spanish player after a wobbly start on the 1st and 2nd:
“I made bogey, bogey on the first two holes and I was thinking that the same thing could happen as happened at the Gösser Open,” he said, recalling his recent near-miss where he lost the lead with two holes to go having held it for two days.
“So, on the third tee I was thinking that my game had been perfect the last two days, so I just had to stay focussed.”
And focussed he became, firing two birdies and six pars for par (34) to be back to -11 overall on the 10th tee. However, his playing partner and yesterday’s joint leader, Sebastien Gandon from France, played -1 (33) for a -12 to be one stroke ahead at this point. And the third member of the flight, the Dutchman, Pierre Verlaar carded a -2 (34) to stand at -10.
Moreover, in the group ahead of them, the Italian Stefano Mazzoli had birdied the 10th to put him at -11 and Romain Guillon from France parred to be at -10. The pressure was on. But as Jordi said, it is often easier to play when coming from behind:
“When you are leading it’s very difficult because you want to try to do your best but at the same time you are looking at the guys who are coming just behind of you.”
Indeed, Gandon bogeyed the tenth, Jordi parred, and they drew even at -11. Verlaar bogeyed and moved back to -9. But ahead of them, Guillon fired 3 birdies in a row and Mazzoli two pars and an eagle, taking them both to -13 on the 14th tee.
Following behind them, after playing two birdies and a par, Jordi also arrived at the 14th at -13 but Gandon, despite a birdie on the 11th fell back to -12 after a double bogey on the 12th. Verlaar’s eagle on the 13th took him to -11.
Despite the scores being so close, the rest of the tournament was played out between the three players sitting at -13 on the 14th and five holes to go: Stefano Mazzoli in the flight with Romain Guillon and just behind them, Jordi Garcia del Moral.
Romain Guillon played bogey, 3 pars and birdie to finish at 191 (-13) to take third place. Whilst Stefano Mazzoli entered the clubhouse at 190 (-14) with four pars and a birdie and a fantastic -7 (61) for the day. This result puts him at the top of the OoM.
Full scoring HERE
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