South African James Kingston hit back from four successive missed cuts in brilliant style today, winning the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne after a play-off with Dane Anders Hansen.
The 43-year-old, who had not made a penny since The Open in July, became the oldest winner of the European Tour season thanks to a four-foot par putt on the first hole of sudden death at Gut Larchenhof.
Hansen had gone over the green into a bunker, splashed out well from the wet sand, but lipped out from six feet.
A second Tour victory for Kingston — his first was the 2007 South African Open moves him up into the top 50 money-winners on the circuit after starting the week 116th.
The pair were level with four holes to play, but as Kingston rolled home a 12-foot birdie putt on the long 15th Hansen three-putted the 195-yard 16th.
But there was to be another twist. Hansen sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the 17th and then Kingston, ranked only 141st in the world, three-putted from only 20 feet.
No wonder the relief when he clinched victory half an hour later.
Joint third were England’s Simon Dyson, Swede Peter Hanson and another Danish player, Soren Hansen.
All three would have been in the play-off with a closing birdie. Dyson, winner of the KLM Open in Holland three weeks ago, had the best chance, but left his 20-foot attempt just short.
“It was a quick putt and I thought I had it,” he said after his 70. Kingston shot a closing 69 to Hansen’s 67 as they posted 13 under par totals of 275.
Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher could have gone third on the money list by finishing fourth and first respectively, but neither did enough. Westwood’s 68 gave him a share of eighth place with Scot David Drysdale, while Fisher was four strokes further back in a tie for 18th.
Collated Scores( Irishin bold)
275James Kingston (Rsa) 67 69 70 69 (Kingston won at first play-off hole), Anders Hansen (Den) 70 68 70 67
276Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 68 67 71, Soren Hansen (Den) 65 71 70 70, Simon Dyson 68 70 68 70
278Anthony Wall 69 70 68 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 68 69 71
279David Drysdale 67 70 73 69, Lee Westwood 70 69 72 68
280Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 72 69 68, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 72 68 70
281Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 71 69 73, Chris Wood 66 69 73 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 70 72 69
282 Graeme McDowell70 72 70 70, Scott Drummond 71 69 74 68, Darren Clarke70 70 70 72
283Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 71 69 72, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 72 69 71 71, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 74 68 69, Ross Fisher 67 69 78 69, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 71 70 70 72
284Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 75 70 68, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 73 71 72 68, Steve Webster 76 67 74 67, Gareth Maybin76 73 67 68, Scott Strange (Aus) 67 68 74 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 72 70 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 72 70 71, Paul Lawrie 68 71 69 76, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 67 72 75, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 73 73 69, Tano Goya (Arg) 74 69 70 71
285Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 69 71 76, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 69 76 70 70, Colin Montgomerie 72 69 71 73, Paul McGinley72 68 72 73, Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 71 73 71, Graeme Storm 69 68 78 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 78 71 69 67
286Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 72 69 76, Anthony Kang (USA) 71 71 72 72, Robert Rock 70 72 75 69, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 68 74 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 76 71 70 69, Jamie Donaldson 74 70 71 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 75 72 71 68
287Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 68 73 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 76 72 68 71, David Howell 71 74 72 70
288Stephen Dodd 69 74 71 74, Nick Dougherty 69 76 75 68
289Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 72 73 73, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 73 70 75 71, Kenneth Ferrie 72 78 70 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 73 73 71
290Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 78 73 69 70, Richard Finch 69 72 73 76, Shane Lowry75 72 72 71
291Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 69 73 75, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 74 72 75, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 76 72 74, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 74 71 71 75
292 Damien McGrane72 72 76 72, Danny Willett 72 70 71 79
294Gregory Havret (Fra) 77 72 73 72
295Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 74 77 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 76 70 77, John Bickerton 74 73 75 73
296Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 73 80 73
298Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 73 70 79 76, Michael Hoey76 77 74 71
299Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 77 75 71 76
300Alastair Forsyth 74 75 74 77
303Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 76 78 71 78
305Michael Campbell (Nzl) 77 79 76 73
307Mark Brown (Nzl) 75 75 75 82
311Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 79 81 74 77
