Crans Montana: Scotland’s Richie Ramsay earned a well-deserved victory by wrapping up his Swiss campaign with a five-under-par 66 to win the Omega European Masters on Sunday.
The Scot showed why he was the week’s best golfer when he won his second Tour title convincingly by four shots at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
Ramsay’s four-day total of 16-under-par 267 left Australia’s Marcus Fraser, Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed, France’s Romain Wattel and England’s Danny Willett having to settle for tied-second on 271.
Ramsay, who held the overnight lead by one, extended his advantage to four after opening with three birdies in four holes on a day when sunny skies made its return over the Swiss Alps.
After picking up further birdies on the seventh and ninth holes, Ramsay dropped his first shot on the 13th. However, he answered back with a stunning eagle-three at the next hole.
The Scot dropped another shot on the 17th but it did little damage to his title hopes as he closed with a par to win for the second time in his career.
“My plan was just to play the golf course and pretend I was playing with my two best mates," said Ramsay.
"That was my plan all week and it worked. I managed to stay patient. A few deep breaths along the stretch and holing that final putt felt so, so good. You can't buy that feeling," added the newly-crowned Omega European Masters champion.
Meanwhile Fraser was left to reflect on the mistakes made during his third round, which he felt had cost him the title.
“Yesterday was a bit disappointing. I finished pretty poorly as I was like three-over the last seven holes. That probably cost me the chance of winning the tournament,” said Fraser.
The Australian tried to haul himself back into contention in his final 18 holes, but with Ramsay at the top of his game, Fraser could only rue what could have been.
“I had a look around (the leaderboard) most of the time but obviously Richie was running away with it. I think I did the damage on the back-nine yesterday which was a bit of a shame,” said Fraser.
While Fraser missed out on a grandstand finish, the Australian will take comfort that he now leads the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
The Omega European Masters is the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour since 2009.
Leading Scores after round 4 of the Omega European Masters being played at the par 71 (par 70 for R3), 6889 Yards Crans-sur-Sierre1 course (am- denotes amateur):
267 - Richie RAMSAY (SCO) 69-68-64-66.
271 - Marcus FRASER (AUS) 68-68-69-66, Romain WATTEL (FRA) 67-70-68-66, Fredrik ANDERSSON HED (SWE) 65-73-67-66, Danny WILLETT (ENG) 67-67-68-69.
272 - Bernd WIESBERGER (AUT) 68-70-68-66, FELIPE AGUILAR (CHI) 68-69-68-67, Paul LAWRIE (SCO) 69-66-67-70.
273 - Anders HANSEN (DEN) 68-70-67-68, Jamie DONALDSON (WAL) 69-69-66-69.
274 - Miguel Angel JIMENEZ (ESP) 77-65-66-66, David LYNN (ENG) 73-68-65-68, Julien QUESNE (FRA) 68-65-70-71.
275 - Michael CAMPBELL (NZL) 70-71-67-67, Marcel SIEM (GER) 68-72-68-67, Lee SLATTERY (ENG) 68-74-69-64, Jaco VAN ZYL (RSA) 69-68-67-71, Mathias GRONBERG (SWE) 70-69-65-71.
276 - Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG) 70-66-73-67, Darren FICHARDT (RSA) 70-72-67-67, Oliver FISHER (ENG) 65-73-72-66, Brett RUMFORD (AUS) 71-68-67-70.
By Indian Sports News Network
Selected scores
280 - S.S.P. CHOWRASIA (IND) 71-71-67-71, Jyoti RANDHAWA (IND) 68-73-71-68
281 - Mardan MAMAT (SIN) 71-71-68-71, Rikard KARLBERG (SWE) 72-67-66-76.
