Ramsay kicks desert sand in rivals faces - Wins in Morocco

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements

IT'S been a while, but that will not be bothering Richie Ramsay as he celebrates winning the Trophee Hassan II at Agadir in Morocco. Unbelievably, the European Tour now takes a two-week break before returning to action in China after The Masters.

Ramsay recorded his third victory on tour (his last was the 2012 Omega European Masters), holding off the challenge of young French star Romain Wattel. The Scot looked to have blown his chance when he dropped four shots in two holes, but he staged a remarkable fightback in a rollercoaster final round.

It represents a huge turnaround. Before the tournament began, he hadn't earned a single euro, having missed four cuts and withdrawn from the Dubai Desert Classic in his five starts so far in 2015.

Ramsay got off to a flying start when he birdied four holes in a row from the third. But he dropped a stroke at the seventh and duffed two chips at the short eight on his way to a dreadful triple bogey six. In years gone by, that might have finished his challenge there and then, but the Scot has worked hard on his mental approach to the game.

He struck a brilliant tee shot to two feet at the 12th and birdied the 13th and 14th on his way to a 69 to move to 10 under par overall.

That left Wattel needing to pick up two shots over the closing two holes – he had chipped in for par on the 15th to keep his hopes alive after hitting his first chip barely three feet - but after a birdie at the par-five 17th the Frenchman failed to find the green at the 485-yard par four 18th, and had to settle for second on nine under after a closing 70.

A relieved Ramsay said afterwards: “I made six [at the eighth], as simple as that. I just didn’t execute the shot the way I wanted too – hit a poor chip, it came back in the divot, wouldn’t come out, chipped on and two putts – easy six. I knew I was still in the mix and I made great putts on nine and ten just to keep the momentum going.

“I stood over the putt on the 12th hole and I just thought my putter feels absolutely great, I could see all the lines.

“I thought, ‘Just go for it, this is your time’. Pretty much took it by the scruff of the neck the next two holes and the seven iron on the last is probably one of the best shots I’ve ever hit in terms of visualisation and execution, it was just perfect.”

George Coetzee, who had required a win to secure a place in The Masters, was part of a six-way tie for third on eight under along with fellow South African Jaco Van Zyl, Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal, Swede Mikael Lundberg, Ireland’s Kevin Phelan and England’s Chris Wood.

And among those a shot further back was former Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal, whose closing 66 gave him the 150th top-10 finish of his European Tour career.

“I didn’t expect this earlier in the week,” said the Spaniard, who will be at Augusta as a two-time winner of the event. “The first day I put together a decent score and struggled Friday, then yesterday it all fitted in on the back nine. Today was a bit like yesterday and I was really happy with my score.

“I saw the leaderboard on 18 and knew I had a putt to lead in the clubhouse. It’s nice to have a round like this and a tournament like this for confidence.

“It is a different course at Augusta; it is really long there for me now. It’s much better to have a score like this than not, but I know how tough Augusta is these days.”

It has to be said that, good though the golf was, the atmosphere was non-existent. Golf has failed to capture the imagination Morocco and there were next to no spectators beside the 18th green (or anywhere else on the course, for that matter), as Ramsey completed his tournament. Is this really how the European Tour believes we will grow the game?