The PGA of Great Britain & Ireland’s Chris Gane was victorious in the 5th Mercedes-Benz International Pro-Am at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club in UAE, after coming out on top after a single hole playoff with defending champion, Alex Wrigley.
Gane began the day one shot behind the overnight leader, Wrigley, but was able to card a 67 for a tie in first place at 11-under par (269). It took just one playing of the 18th hole in the sudden death playoff to reveal a winner, with Gane coming out on top after his birdie trumped Wrigley’s regulation par.
“It’s definitely nice to win in a playoff, and I played really nicely this week,” said Gane. “I was a little disappointed to bogey the 17th which led to the playoff, but regardless it’s a great way to start the year.
“It’s the second time we’ve been here and it’s just a fantastic layout with great greens, and you get looked after really well all week, so that’s why we came back.”
Having been runner-up in 2015 and 2016, and winning in 2017, second place Wrigley was not far behind with his two-under 68 in the final round, and narrowly missed making it two in a row with his playoff birdie putt just glancing by the hole.
Standalone third place went to the PGA of Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson who played hugely consistent golf through the tournament with three consecutive 68s over the four rounds for a four-under par total (276).
The three-round Team Pro-Am event was won by the PGA of GB&I’s Darren Bragg and his team of Michael Aminzade, Chris Muir and Charlie Sturt with 251 points (-35) having risen two places up the leaderboard in the final round.
Just one point behind was the team of Richard Smith (PGA of GB&I) and his amateurs, Peter Taylor, Adam Share and Michael Arnold with 250 points (-34), and third place went to GB&I’s Gavin Hall and his team of Abzal Zhautikbayev, Alexandr Tsoy and Pyotr Lubyantsev with 249 points (-33).
For Full Final Scores Visit http://eur.pe/2018MercInt
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For more information on the Confederation of Professional Golf visit the Tournament Hub Page, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter search the Hashtag ‘#MercIntProAm’, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.
To find out more about Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club visit www.aesgc.ae.
