Mikko Korhonen yesterday pipped France’s Benjamin Hebert in a nerve-jangling playoff to win the 25th Volvo China Open and secure his place in this month’s US PGA Championship.
The Finn shot a superb six-under-par 66 to finish at 20-under par for the tournament alongside overnight leader Hebert, who had a three-under-par 69 at the Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen.
Korhonen looked icy cool when he sank a treacherous left-to-right downhill 3m putt for a birdie in the playoff, although he later admitted that his knees had been trembling.
Photo: AFP
“Yeah, there were a few butterflies with that one,” Korhonen said after being drenched in celebratory champagne by his fellow Finnish players on the final green. “It wasn’t the easiest of putts.”
He promised that it would be a “good flight” back to Europe last night after ensuring a place in a major field for just the second time in his career.
It was just his second win in a European Tour event after his Shot Clock Masters victory in Austria last year.
The triumph takes him into the world’s top 100 and the top 20 on the Race To Dubai standings, which means that he is to head to Bethpage, New York, for the season’s second major in two weeks’ time.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” he said. “It was my first time in a playoff and I had nothing to lose. It was a battle all day as everyone was making putts, and I had to stay patient and do the same.”
He had started yesterday three shots behind Hebert along with Spain’s Jorge Campillo, and the final trio produced a drama-filled final round as the lead changed hands multiple times.
Hebert was hunting his first European Tour win, while Campillo, who triumphed for his maiden victory in Morocco a week ago, was looking to become the first European Tour back-to-back winner since Justin Rose in 2017 at the WGC-HSBC Champions and Turkish Airlines Open.
“It has been a good week,” said Hebert, who has won six times on the Challenge Tour, but never on the main European Tour.
Campillo started the round brilliantly as three consecutive birdies from the 10th hole took him into the lead.
However, dropped shots at both the 14th and 15th holes, and just missing a 6m birdie putt on the final green, dropped Campillo out of the playoff as he finished 19-under-par for the tournament.
“It was disappointing. I finished as a champion last week, but I didn’t this week,” said Campillo, who will move into second in the Race to Dubai standings after an amazing run of five top-three finishes in his past six events.
Home favourite Li Haotong had a birdie-birdie finish in his 66 to secure solo fourth at 16-under-par.
“The game’s heading in the right direction here in China,” Li said after a record-breaking week that drew huge crowds to see 45 Chinese players in the field and an unprecedented 10, including three amateurs, make the cut. “It’s great to see Kuang Yang, who’s only 14, making the cut and it’s amazing to see these juniors making Chinese people proud.”
Taiwan’s Lee Chieh-Po carded a two-over-par 74, while Lien Lu-Sen languished to a 13-over-par 85, neither making the cut.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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