Grand Final blog

Our man at the course, Matt Cooper, with his final diary entry from the Challenge Tour Grand Final in Italy.

Matt Cooper reports from this week's Challenge Tour Grand Final

Click here for a review of round three
Click here for a review of round two
Click here for a review of round one Home victory For much of the final round the home favourite Andrea Pavan was in charge. He reached the turn in 34 shots to his closest challenger Tommy Fleetwood's 37 which increased his 54-hole lead to four shots. Pavan was noticeably confident, striding ahead of his playing partners down the fairways and looking at ease in front of the biggest crowds of the week. But a bogey for Pavan on the 14th gave Fleetwood a sniff and he took it, knocking a 3-wood on the par-five 15th hole to tap-in range and doing the same thing with his approach to the par-four 16th. With that eagle and birdie he tied the lead. But Fleetwood was never really confident with his putter all day and it was to prove crucial. He left a makeable birdie putt on the 17th short of the hole and then three-putted the final green to hand the initiative to Pavan. Faced with a four-foot par-putt for the title, he walked around it time and again, then stood off it, before finally stepping forward and draining it, giving Italy its first Grand Final winner at the seventh San Domenico-hosted event. Pavan will be worth watching on the main tour - he is still a little shaky when it gets nervy (he hooked his tee shot on the final hole) but he has presence and his ability to make par after that error was impressive. The 2011 number one Fleetwood might have lost the battle but he won the war, emerging as the top ranked player on the 2011 Challenge Tour rankings. His rise to the European Tour might not have been as dramatic as other youngsters of recent times (such as McIlroy, Manassero and Lewis) but many have talked of him in the same bracket for a couple of years. He has been a professional for 18 months in which time he has played 24 times on this tour, winning once and finished in the top thirty 18 times. He hails from Southport and, unsurprisingly, he knows how to hit a low ball. He'll be worth watching whenever the wind blows, on links course and, indeed, at any venue suited to solid ball-striking. A tough day As everyone congregated around the stage awaiting the prize giving I scanned the golfers. Some were excited, some relaxed (their week was already run), then others were blank and yet more plain exhausted. One man brushed his fingers over his eyes, squeezed his nose and puffed out his cheeks. When he opened his eyes they looked puffy. He shook his head and breathed heavily. It was England's Sam Walker and my first thought was that he had failed to make the top 20. Moments later pieces of paper with the final rankings were handed round and Walker's name was there - suddenly it was clear that he was not devastated by defeat but by the effort of completing his morning target of earning a card. A few minutes later, when a smile had returned to his face and a bottle of beer was in his hand, I went over to offer my congratulations. "Tough day?" I asked. "So tough," he said. "You just had to grind it. Nothing pretty, just keep going, keep believing." He eagled the par-five 15th hole but then bogied the par-four 17th and had to scramble for his par on the 18th. "The wind was so tough with club selection," Walker explained. "On the 18th I was going for the front of the green and I hit it through the back." He didn't elaborate but his face did - he'd been through the mill but had survived. He has finished 16th in the rankings which isn't perfect - the top 15 get the best cards, but it gives him some hope of a good year on the main tour. Going up, going down Anthony Snobeck started this week in 18th place on the rankings but played poorly to fall outside the top 20. However four birdies on the back nine got him back in the mix ony for disaster to strike with bogies on the 17th and 18th holes. Those two dropped holes were crucial because Alessandro Tadini didn't drop any shots on the back nine (he played them in one under par) and consequently he finished two shots and just 801 Euros ahead of Snobeck in the rankings - the cruel difference between another year on the Challenge Tour for Snobeck and a crack at the big stage for Tadini. You think that was bad? Jose-Filipe Lima had a 15 foot putt on the final green. Had he made it, Tadini's efforts would have been in vain - Lima would have finished ten Euro ahead of him. Unfortunately the putt crept past the hole and Lima will be playing with Snobeck next year. The final rankings 1. Tommy Fleetwood, 2. Andrea Pavan, 3. Sam Little, 4. Ricardo Santos, 5. Benjamin Hebert, 6. Danny Denison, 7. Federico Colombo, 8. Jamie Moul, 9. Jorge Campillo, 10. Matthew Baldwin, 11. Edouard Dubois, 12, Simon Thornton, 13. Julien Quesne, 14. Craig Lee, 15. Andrew Johnston. Those top 15 players get the best cards, those ranked 16 to 20 also get a card but they will have more limited opportunities. 16. Sam Walker, 17. Charles-Edouard Russo, 18. Pelle Edberg, 19. Chris Gane, 20. Alessandro Tadini.