England’s Chris Gane and South Africa’s Mathiam Keyser shared first place at the 2018 Troon Golf Abu Dhabi Pro-Am with total scores of 12-under par (204).
The three-round tournament was played at Troon Golf’s Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, where Professionals and amateurs alike had the chance to test their skills on the renowned championship courses.
PGA of Great Britain & Ireland Professional, Gane, played consistently across the first two rounds taking a substantial lead over the field.
But a level-par 72 in his last round, with a bogey on the last, was not good enough to stay ahead of Mathiam Keyser, who shot an incredible five-under 67 in windy conditions to force a playoff with Gane.
After three holes, both players had come close to snatching the title – Keyser on the first hole, nearly driving the par-four 10th green but failing to make two putts, and Gane on the third playoff hole with a putt incredibly lipping out. With no daylight left, both players agreed to return to the clubhouse and share the Individual Professional honours.
“I thought that if I played a good round in the afternoon in the wind, well, you just never know what could happen,” said Keyser of his five-shot deficit when starting the final round.
“It was an amicable draw and a good result in the end, so I’m still happy with the win,” said Gane of his second Confederation of Professional Golf Sanctioned Event win of the season after also taking the 2018 Mercedes-Benz International Pro-Am title in January.
In tied third place at four-under par (212), the PGA of GB&I’s Daniel Whitby-Smith was joined by the PGA of Italy’s Federico Elli, whose unfortunate triple-bogey in round two stopped him from having what would have been the perfect round and allow him to enter round three in contention.
The Team Pro-Am event was won by Mathiam Keyser and amateurs Khaled Samawi, Julien Leonard and Ead Samawi, with 259 points (-43).
Gane and his amateurs, Andrew Doswell, Neil Foulkes and Robert Munro, secured second place with a total of 254 points (-38), with Whitby-Smith and his amateurs Gary Moore, Ian Birch and Darren Marshall not far behind in third position with a 248-point total (-32).
For Full Final Scores Visit http://eur.pe/2018TroonAbuDhabi
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For more information about the 2018 Troon Golf Abu Dhabi Pro-Am, visit the Tournament Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2018TroonAbuDhabi), follow @PGAsofEurope and search #TroonAbuDhabi on Twitter, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.
To find out more about Abu Dhabi Golf Club visit www.adgolfclub.com, and to find out more about Saadiyat Beach Golf Club visit www.sbgolfclub.ae.
