Euan McIntosh secured a dream Legends Tour victory at the Riegler and Partner Legends at Murhof Golf club, withstanding the pressure of the chasing pack to secure his maiden over 50’s title.
The Scotsman carded a closing one over par round of 73 to finish on 10 under par, one shot ahead of 11-time Sunshine Tour winner James Kingston on nine under par. Former Ryder Cup player Joakim Haeggman, 1996 BMW International Open winner Marc Farry and 12-time Sunshine Tour winner Adilson Da Silva finished a shot further back in a tie for third place on eight under par.
McIntosh earned his place on the European over 50’s circuit having been successful at the Legends Tour Qualifying School in 2019, and now having recorded his first victory he is delighted to have done so.
“It’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s absolutely amazing, I’m chuffed.
“I didn’t play very well today, and I was nervous at the start, and I don’t know everything I tried to do just didn’t seem to come off, but I was watching the scoreboard the whole way round so I kind of just knew how to get it over the line.
“I think because of everything that surrounds it that makes it difficult including press, that is in the back of your mind, I slept okay last night though.”
McIntosh showed great determination and patience in the final round as rain brought play to a halt at 13:35pm for 17 minutes but admits that the playing conditions were suited to him and didn’t discourage him at all.
“You’re used it and a lot of guys who aren’t from Scotland maybe struggle in weather like that, so it didn’t bother me at all to be honest, maybe at the 14thwhen we stopped, I wanted to keep going!
“I was watching him on 15 and 16 (James Kingston) and you’ve got to do that because I knew he was playing well and he was really unlucky because he played 15 in a downpour and we stopped and he had to hit his tee shot and he was miles past so that was really unlucky, so we got a big break there.”
Five-time Legends Tour winner Philip Golding finished in a tie for sixth place on seven under par with four other players including English counterparts Andrew Raitt and Gary Wolstenholme. The 2021 Riegler and Partner Legends winner Mauricio Molina finished a shot back alongside Spaniard Juan Quiros and Sweden’s Magnus Atlevi.
Next up for the Legends is the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores Resort in Benton Harbor, Illinois, USA from May 26 – 29. Afterwards the Legends Tour returns to the island of Jersey for the Jersey Legends at La Moye Golf Club, from June 9 – 12 and the Tour heads to Rosapenna in Donegal for the Irish Legends presented by the McGinley Foundation from the 16-20 of August.
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