Greig Hutcheon dug deep in sudden death to claim the Titleist PGA Play-Offs title in Turkey yesterday.
The Banchory golfer earned the PGA No. 1 player title in a dramatic finale at Antalya in which he edged out Rothley Park’s Matt Cort thanks to an eagle at the third extra hole.
Both players had tied at nine-under-par for the 54-hole tournament, just ahead of overnight leader Matt Ford. But following pars on the first and second holes, Hutcheon delivered a perfect blow to six feet to secure the title with his rival only able to make birdie in increasingly gusty conditions.
Following his win Hutcheon has earned a place in next year’s BMW PGA championship and the Wales Open, but he admitted he was close to missing out altogether after a dreadful run of 18 holes midway through the tournament.
Hutcheon said: “I’m really chuffed to win because although I played well today I feel the reason I won was the last 14 holes of the second round and the first four holes this morning where I played so badly and really struggled but still managed to cover those holes in just about level par.
“My game had vanished and I had to say to myself you’re out of this and a spot at Wentworth unless you get going, and then it was a momentum thing and I started to play a bit better.”
Hutcheon’s final round 67 was a rollercoaster with three bogeys, including two on the first two holes, five birdies and an eagle.
His fifth and decisive birdie came at the 18th which he birdied for the third time this week to book his place in the play-off.
The new champion said: “It’s really a huge honour to be the PGA’s number one, I’m delighted to win it again and it caps off a really good season for me.”
The players were forced to briefly leave the course for 40 minutes following a lightning strike and on resumption Ford’s hopes went up in smoke with bogeys on 15 and 16.
Despite a superb birdie on the last hole his 72 left him one place behind the joint leaders.
Meanwhile Cort holed a brilliant up and down on 18 to make the play-off and despite eventually losing out to Hutcheon was happy to book a return to Wentworth after missing out last year.
Cort said: “I was head to head with Matt (Ford) for a lot of the time and thought it was between him and me.
“I played nicely all day but took too much club on 18 and was over the back of the green but managed to chip back on and holed a putt on the last which, given the circumstances, was probably one of the best putts of my life.”