The final round of the Challenge Tour’s Swiss Challenge ended with a dramatic finish as Sweden’s Adam Blomme emerged victorious in a playoff over his compatriot Jesper Svensson.
Blomme overcame the challenge of Svensson with a bogey on the 18th, which was the only playoff hole, with his Swedish competitor double-bogeying to hand Blomme the victory.
With this win, courtesy of rounds of 67, 69, 69 and 66, the 27-year-old claimed his maiden victory on the DP World Tour’s official feeder circuit and moves up to third in the Road to Mallorca rankings.
There was drama throughout the final round of play at Golf Saint Apollinaire with several players in with a shout of lifting the trophy come Sunday and jeopardy on the final hole of the round for the eventual winner, Adam Blomme.
The Swede was alongside Spaniard Ivan Cantero and American Julian Suri who all played solidly in their final round today and were keeping pace with the Swede throughout.
Blomme made ground on the opening hole of his round with a birdie and followed this up with a triplet of birdies between the sixth and eighth as he moved to -15 for the competition.
The Swede’s back nine was a little bit patchier but a run of three birdies and bogey between the 12th and 15th saw him make moves towards the top of the leaderboard.
With the final three holes to play in the round, Blomme saw some of his playing partners make some untimely bogeys – with Cantero and Suri dropping shots on the 15th and 16th respectively – allowing Blomme to attempt to surpass the target of -17 set by Svensson.
A birdie on the 17th looked to have sealed the deal for Blomme as he moved a shot clear of his fellow countryman, but a bogey on the 18th meant that the tournament a playoff would decide the competition.
The two Swede’s took on the 18th in a playoff hole, and although Blomme replicated his performance in his final hole of regulation play with a bogey, a double bogey from Svensson meant that Blomme claimed his first win on the Challenge Tour.
Speaking after his tense victory, Blomme was elated after securing his first professional win against a player whom he knows so well and about his new standing on the podium of the Road to Mallorca rankings.
“It’s amazing to finally do it,” he said. “There are hundreds of players on the Challenge Tour that are playing for that one spot, that first place, and it’s so satisfying to do it.
“It was difficult playing against Jesper, honestly. It feels good to either win or lose against your best friend though. I hit a really bad tee shot, and then to see him struggle too on that play-off was tough. At the end we were both just trying to do our best.
“My goal since South Africa has been to finish in the top five [in the Road to Mallorca], so it feels like I’m getting closer to achieving that which is nice. It just feels amazing.”
The Challenge Tour breaks for the Ryder Cup week and returns with the Hopps Open de Provence in France from October 5th to 8th.
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