Golf Results - 23 April 2013

In the United States, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell won his second PGA title when he won a playoff against Webb Simpson at the RBC Heritage on Sunday.

As windy weather made play difficult on the course at Hilton Head, South Carolina, McDowell had to contend with a further challenge when Simpson, a former US Open champion, turned up the heat during Sunday’s final round. After conditions on the course narrowed the race for victory to just Simpson and McDowell, the two players found themselves level-pegging at the eighteenth hole, forcing a playoff.

With the wind showing no sign of relenting, McDowell sunk a victorious par putt at the first extra hole to clinch the title. Simpson failed to make par, and the competition came to an end with an elated McDowell lifting the trophy for the second time on the US PGA Tour.

On the European Tour, the Spanish Open was won by France’s Raphael Jacquelin in a gruelling nine-hole playoff against Maximilian Kieffer of Germany.

As the tournament came to a close in Valencia on Sunday a three-way tie for the lead remained unbroken by the final hole. Kieffer, Jacquelin, and the Colombian Felipe Aguilar began the playoff, with Aguilar falling out of the race after he failed to match his rivals’ birdies on the third extra hole.

With two main competitors left in the tournament, the playoff lasted an amazing nine holes as Jacquelin and Kieffer treated golf fans to an impressive display of skill and endurance as they vied for the trophy. After almost two hours, the playoff came to an end with Jacquelin emerging victorious. Sunday’s playoff is one of the longest in the history of the European Tour, matching the 1989 Dutch Open.

For Jacquelin, who now has four European Tour titles to his name, Sunday’s victory was a hard-earned and enjoyable career milestone. Kieffer will have to wait just a little longer to secure his first title on the European Tour.

GolfWeather
Editorial