Mikko Korhonen eases to maiden victory at Shot Clock Masters
Sunday 10 June 2018 17:50, UK
Mikko Korhonen secured his maiden European Tour title with a convincing six-stroke victory at the inaugural Shot Clock Masters.
The 37-year-old fired a three-under 69 in the final round at Diamond Country Club in Austria to finish on 16 under 272 and remain well clear of nearest challenger Connor Syme.
Steve Webster, Nicolas Colsaerts, Raphael Jacquelin and Justin Walters shared third spot on nine under, with David Horsey part of the group a further stroke back.
Korhonen saw his five-shot overnight lead cut to four by the time he had teed off after Jacquelin birdied three of his opening six holes, only for the Finn to restore his advantage by picking up a shot at the third.
Walters moved up the leaderboard with four straight gains from the fourth, as Korhonen holed a 12-footer at the fifth and matched the South African's birdie-two at the sixth.
Walters double-bogeyed the eighth to allow Korhonen to bogey the ninth and still turn with a six-stroke cushion, before bouncing back to birdie the next and increase his advantage further.
The final round was halted for a second time due to the threat of lightning, with Korhonen failing to get up-and-down from a bunker to save par at the 12th when play resumed 40 minutes later.
Korhonen responded to nudge in a close-range birdie at the 13th and closed out his winning round with a run of pars, as Scotland's Syme drained a 60-footer at the last to grab outright second.
Felipe Aguilar needed 15 shots to complete the par-five 16th and was later disqualified for failing to sign for the right scorecard, while Markus Brier and Oscar Stark both picked up one-shot penalties for breaching time rules.
