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Martin wins Alfred Dunhill Championship |
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Martin wins Alfred Dunhill Championship |
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::Sunday,13 December 2009 |
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Michael Vlismas
MALELANE, South Africa – Spain’s Pablo Martin came to South Africa for a holiday with his sister, and will leave it with a few arts and crafts as well as a European Tour title after winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek on Sunday.
Martin became the second Spanish winner of this tournament when he fought off a strong charge by South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel to win by a single stroke on 17 under par with a final round of 69.
Schwartzel birdied four of his final five holes for a 68 and second place on 16 under, and defending champion Richard Sterne finished tied fourth on 12 under.
Ernie Els saw his run of winning at least once a year every year since 1991 come to an end as he closed with a 77 for a total of seven under par.
Martin went into the final round with a two-stroke lead and played extremely sensible golf in the face of Schwartzel’s challenge, including his decision to lay up on the 18th rather than take on an island green which had already sunk several championship hopes.
Welshman Sion Bebb made an 11 on the final hole after hitting into the water three times. Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera carded an eight here.
And even Els again had to face his Leopard Creek demons on this hole. In 2007 he hit two shots into the water here to hand the tournament to England’s John Bickerton. This year, Els hit his second into the water and then very nearly his fourth as well. The ball pitched over the green and trickled down the bank, stopping inches short of the water, from where he made seven.
Martin hit a huge drive down the last, leaving him 175 yards to the green. “It was like a seven or six iron to the centre of the green. It wasn’t a difficult shot, but my caddie kept saying, ‘No, no, no. Lay up’. So I told him, ‘C’mon, I can bat it from here to where I must lay up’. But he kept insisting I lay up. So I told him, ‘I think you spent too much time caddying on the LPGA Tour’,” said Martin.
But he made the five which secured him the title.
“It’s unreal – an unbelievable feeling. It’s probably the most nervous I’ve been. Charl was making all those birdies at the end. He’s just an unreal player – one of the best in the world. So I’m really happy to get it done and go home with the leopard,” he said, referring to the trophy, which is a bronze statue of a leopard.
Schwartzel was satisfied he had done all he could to catch the Spaniard.
“I put it all in there and played with a lot of confidence. I made a good charge at the end there and it got close,” he said.
Martin will continue his “holiday” in South Africa as he travels to the Cape winelands for this week’s South African Open Championship. And his sister will be joining him again.
“My sister has been to two tournaments and I’ve won both. So she’ll have to tell her husband she won’t be seeing him that much anymore. She has a new job now, following me.”
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