John Murphy’s final round of 72 at the D&D Real Czech Masters left the Irishman on 10-under-par for the tournament in a share of 39th place while Englishman, Todd Clements, held on to claim his first win on the DP World Tour.
Murphy began the day tied for 20th and would have been looking to make a mark on his first made cut in six attempts, but a level-par final round saw him slide down the standings with plenty of low scoring in the final day of play.
A strong front nine from the Kinsale native set up a strong close to the tournament as he birdied the eighth and ninth, sending him into the final nine holes on two-under par.
Murphy played steadily in the opening five holes of the back nine and was carrying himself towards a score of -12, which would have given him a share for 25th place.
However, a bogey on the 15th dropped the Irishman to a score of one-under-par for the day while another dropped shot on the final hole was a slightly sour way to finish what has been a brilliant week of golf for the Cork man.
Padraig Harrington made up the remainder of the Irish interests for the weekend play, and the veteran Irishman finished the tournament with a score of five-under-par after a final round of 71.
At the top of the leaderboard, there was a lot of movement on the final day as overnight leaders Sami Välimäki and Matt Wallace looked to close the tournament out in style.
But it would be a fellow countryman of Wallace’s, Todd Clements, who would emerge at the top of the tournament standings after the final day of play.
A final round of 63 gave the Englishman a score of nine-under-par for the day and an overall score of -22, just one shot clear of Wallace in second place.
Clements’ victory was built off the back of hitting three consecutive birdies on the front nine on two separate occasions, with a third triplet of birdies coming as he began his back nine.
On his 30th appearance on the tour, Clements delighted in finishing the tournament top of the leaderboard.
“I’ve dreamt of this for a long time. It’s the reason I play golf. To win out here, it takes some people a few years. I had my luck today and managed to take it. Over the moon,” he said.
“Me and Dan (Brown) grew up together. Home internationals. Good friend of mine. I was so over the moon to see him last week. That gave me the belief that I could do it as well. I know my game’s there and I know I can compete at this level. I’m absolutely over the moon.
“I missed a couple on Saturday late on. I knew they were important because three shots out there is a tough ask. Me and Brendan said I was playing well enough to get in and amongst it, keep doing what I’m doing. I had a hot start and putted great. I holed a few great putts out there today.
“I feel like I did my job on every shot. I was saying to myself to do that. With my putts, the luck was with me today because I holed a few long ones.
“I wasn’t really (aware of the leaderboard) at the time. I knew it was a birdie fest out there and I was five or six groups ahead of the final group. I knew I had to keep doing what I was doing and put my foot to the pedal. I managed to do that.”
Leave a comment