Majorca Open:Sweden's Peter Hanson overcame a one-shot penalty for a double hit to win his third European Tour title in a play-off with Spain's Alejandro Canizares in Majorca. Best of the Irish was Colm Moriarty, who finished with a one-under-par 69 to earn a share of 32nd place on seven over.
Only a slow motion television camera caught the fact that Hanson clipped his chip on the 12th a second time on his follow-through.
After being told about it by the Tour’s chief referee John Paramor two holes later the 32-year-old fell two behind with four to play.
But birdie putts of 12 and 30 feet at the 15th and 17th brought him level, he saved par from a bunker at the last and then won when Canizares failed to get up and down from the same trap on the first extra hole.
The pair had both been two behind at the start of the final round of the Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca at Pula, but while leaders Pelle Edberg and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano slumped to four over par 74s they shot 66.
It gave them six under totals of 274, four clear of South African James Kingston, who finished third on his own when Edberg double-bogeyed the short 18th.
“It feels absolutely fantastic after all that happened there,” stated Hanson.
He was shown the incident on the completion of his round and commented: “It looks strange, but of course it was a double hit. The ball went down and then I hit it again.
“Sometimes it’s good to have these fantastic cameras and sometimes it’s bad — but it was fair.”
His very next shot after being spoken to flew into a bush and with nowhere to drop he had to walk back up the fairway.
Making a 25-foot bogey putt there was crucial to his morale, but the one on the 17th was the really dramatic one as it hit the back of the hole at speed, jumped up and landed on the back lip before toppling in.
Victory could lift Hanson back into the world’s top 50 and if he is there next Monday it will save him from having to qualify for the US Open. Last year he holed-in-one in a play-off to make it through.
Canizares, the 27-year-old son of former Ryder Cup player Jose Maria, was trying for his second Tour title, but last November had to go back to the qualifying school to regain his card.
He finished joint fourth there and has now has had three successive top-10 finishes.
Edberg’s day started and finished with a double bogey, his opening drive going out of bounds, while Fernandez-Castano’s putting problems persisted when he missed four-foot par putts on the eighth, ninth and 11th.
Bristol’s Chris Wood, who was never able to get back in touch after finding the water on the fifth and ninth, finished in a tie for seventh spot.
Damien McGrane also carded a 69 to move to eight over, but Paul McGinley dropped back to 15 over after a 73.