Wales Open:Jeppe Huldahl, a 26-year-old Dane without a single European Tour top 10 finish to his name, has forced himself into the limelight by winning the Celtic Manor Wales Open. The player ranked 377th in the world beat Swede Niclas Fasth by one and Spain's Ignacio Garrido, another former Ryder Cup star, by two, after flawless closing round of 67.
It earned Huldahl €340,000 - almost 30 times his previous biggest cheque on the circuit.
Ireland's Paul McGinley finished six off the pace after a third consecutive 71 and Peter Lawrie improved to level par with a 69.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “I couldn’t feel my hands the last three holes. I knew I was doing well, but I didn’t know how well until I asked my caddie on the 18th tee.
“He told me I needed a par — and it’s nice to have a par five and have a chance to lay up. But I couldn’t put winning out of my head and it was quite emotional.”
Joint leader with England’s Nick Dougherty and Garrido with a round to play the 2008 Challenge Tour graduate did not drop a stroke on the way to victory.
Fasth joined him out in front by pitching in for eagle on the long 11th, but Huldahl instantly birdied his next two holes.
Back came Fasth at him with birdies on the 13th and 15th, but the former world top 20 player then bogeyed the next two holes and despite piling on the
pressure again with a closing 20-foot putt Huldahl parred the last seven holes to triumph.
He finished nine under par, with Fasth eight under after a 66 and Garrido third a further shot back. Dougherty, though, crashed all the way to 37th with a nightmare 79.
Halfway leader Richie Ramsay, meanwhile, finished tied 10th, but it was a weekend the Scot will not forget in a hurry.
After two-hour talks with officials late on Saturday night he escaped a two-stroke penalty over an incident on the eighth when he pressed down ground behind his ball in testing for casual water, but this morning had his par five on the last turned into a six because of the way he took relief on the fairway there.
“I didn’t sleep because I was concerned about what people might think and my head was in a bit of a spin,” said the Tour rookie, who during his US Amateur victory three years ago lost two holes over rules matters.
“A lot of things go through your head, but all I can do is tell the truth.
“That’s what golf is about — honesty and etiquette. Being up most of the night it wasn’t the easiest thing to come out and play. I just need to sit down now, have a rest and clear my head.”
Tour chief referee John Paramor, shaking his head in disbelief when the second incident happened, said of the first: “He now knows that’s not the way to go about it.
“If he’s absolutely positive he did not improve his area of swing then I can’t impose a penalty on him based on what I’ve seen. I must have looked at it about 20 times on television, but we had only one camera angle.”
Focal points at the start of the week were Ryder Cup captains Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin, but they finished 38th and 43rd respectively on three and four over.
