Ramsay bags maiden title

Scot triumphs in playoff to secure first European Tour win

By Rachel Griffiths   Last updated: 20th December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Ramsay bags maiden title

Ramsay: South African Open winner

There's no greater feeling than winning and I'm just a flood of emotions - I'm holding back the tears

Richie Ramsay
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Final leaderboard
(GB and Ire unless stated)
R Ramsay -13
S Kapur (Ind) -13
A Hansen (Den) -12
F Andersson Hed (Swe) -11
E Molinari (Ita) -11

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Britain's Richie Ramsay has claimed his first European Tour title with victory in the South African Open at Pearl Valley.

The 26-year-old came from five behind with a best-of-the-day 65 before defeating India's Shiv Kapur with a birdie in a sudden-death playoff.

Ramsay tied with Kapur on the 13-under-par mark of 275 but it was the Scot who prevailed when he was on the green in two at the 601-yard 18th and two-putted, securing the first prize of £141,745 and a Tour exemption valid until the end of 2011.

The Aberdeen-born player, who went into the event ranked 240th in the world and is now just inside the top 120, was overwhelmed after winning the second oldest trophy in golf.

Emotions

"There's no greater feeling than winning and I'm just a flood of emotions - I'm holding back the tears," said former Walker Cup player Ramsay.

"I played a steady final round and felt positive after a lot of recent work on the mental side of my game.

"Many of the names of this trophy are icons of the game so it is fantastic that mine is also there now."

Ramsay, who in 2006 became the first Scot to win the US Amateur in 108 years, did not drop a shot all day and went to the turn in 33 before seizing more birdies on the 10th, 12th, 15th and 17th.

The last of those allowed Ramsay to take the joint lead and, following his missed 25-foot birdie chance on the last, Kapur then missed a 12-foot putt for his first Tour title on the same green.

Anders Hansen of Denmark, Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed and Italy's Edoardo Molinari could have joined the play-off with a closing eagle but failed.

Hansen finished third while the other two were joint fourth, which was enough to see Molinari pushed into the world's top 50 and earn him a place in the Masters field next year.

Overnight leader Pablo Martin, who triumphed at the Alfred Dunhill Championship last week, fell back to sixth with a 73.