David Horsey wins Russian Open

David Horsey of England came through a playoff against Ireland’s Damien McGrane to win the M2M Russian Open at Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club near Moscow.

David Horsey of England came through a playoff against Ireland’s Damien McGrane to win the M2M Russian Open at Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club near Moscow.

Horsey had led the tournament after a superb first round of 65 and had maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard for much of the week. He was two clear in the final round and looked to be on course for victory until a double bogey at the 12th hole halted his progress.

With Ireland’s Damien McGrane going on a charge, posting three birdies in a row from the 15th, Horsey’s challenge appeared to be over. But he chipped in for an eagle on the 17th and, after McGrane had bogeyed his final hole, the pair were tied on 13-under-par.

Horsey managed to par the home hole to force a playoff so he and McGrane returned to the 18th tee. Another par there was sufficient for Horsey to take the victory, after McGrane was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker. It was the Englishman’s third European Tour title.

“I didn’t know where I was in the tournament until the 17th. I hit it through the back of the green there and then realised I was three behind and needed to do something drastic quite quickly,” he said.

“I managed to chip in there and was trying to make birdie at the last. I didn’t realise Damien had dropped one, but I managed to get up and down there and was fortunate to win the play-off as well.”

McGrane had fired an excellent closing round of 66 and was keen to take the positives from a good performance.

“It’s good for me mentally. I can push on for the rest of the season with my card secure, he said. “There are a lot of good events before the end of the year and this has given me a lot of confidence going into them.”

Scotland’s Scott Jamieson posted a closing 69 to finish alone in third, one clear of England’s Sam Hustby.

M2M Russian Open Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club, Moscow, Russia Jul 24-27, purse €1,000,000, par 72

1    David Horsey (Eng)    65    68    70    72    275    €166,660 2    Damien McGrane (Irl)    69    71    69    66    275    €111,110 3    Scott Jamieson (Sco)    66    72    69    69    276    €62,600 4    Sam Hutsby (Eng)    72    67    70    68    277    €50,000 5    Peter Whiteford (Sco)    66    71    66    75    278    €42,400 T6    Krister Eriksson (Swe)    72    68    71    68    279    €32,500 T6    Thomas Pieters (Bel)    67    68    72    72    279    €32,500 T8    Max Kieffer (Ger)        67    71    73    69    280    €23,700 T8    Andrea Pavan (Ita)    73    70    64    73    280    €23,700 T10    Carlos Del Moral (Esp)    70    71    73    67    281    €19,200 T10    Sam Walker (Eng)    69    71    73    68    281    €19,200

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage