Ramsay Pulls off Victory in Morocco


Richie Ramsay held steady on the back nine en route to a closing 3-under 69 and a victory at the Trophee Hassan II. The European Tour event took place at Golf du Palais Royal in Agadir, Morocco.

After beginning the final round tied for the lead with fellow Scotsman Andrew McArthur and France's Romain Wattel, the 31-year-old Ramsay overcame a bogey and a triple-bogey on the par-3 eighth with seven birdies to finish at 10-under 278, a shot ahead of Wattel.

Despite stumbling with a bogey at the seventh followed by the triple, which involved two misplayed chip shots, Ramsay steadied himself and came home with three birdies and six pars for his third title on the European Tour.

Wattel could have forced extra holes. After a birdie on the par-5 17th, the 24-year-old missed the green on the par-4 closer and didn't get the necessary birdie to forge a tie with Ramsay.

Of his triple, Ramsay said matter-of-factly, "I made six, as simple as that. I just didn't execute the shot the way I wanted too - hit a poor chip, it came back in the divot, wouldn't come out, chipped on and two putts - easy six!"

But Ramsay quickly forgot about that misstep. "I knew I was still in the mix and I made great putts on nine and 10 just to keep the momentum going. I stood over the putt on the 12th hole and I just thought my putter feels absolutely great, I could see all the lines.

"I thought 'Just go for it, this is your time.' Pretty much took it by the scruff of the neck the next two holes, and the 7-iron on the last is probably one of the best shots I've ever hit in terms of visualization and execution, it was just perfect."

Ending up two strokes back were England's Chris Wood (67), Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal (68), Sweden's Mikael Lundberg (69) and South Africans George Coetzee and Jaco van Zyl, who each shot 70s.

Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal fired the low round of the day, a 6-under 66, to rise into a tie for ninth at 281 with Marcel Schneider, Ben Evans, Wade Ormsby and Richard Bland.

Olazabal's stellar round gives him a boost of confidence heading to the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters in two weeks. "I didn't expect this earlier in the week," the 49-year-old Spaniard told the European Tour's website.

"The first day I put together a decent score and struggled Friday, then yesterday it all fitted in on the back nine. Today was a bit like yesterday and I was really happy with my score. I saw the leaderboard on 18 and knew I had a putt to lead in the clubhouse. It's nice to have a round like this and a tournament like this for confidence.

"It is a different course at Augusta; it is really long there for me now. It's much better to have a score like this than not, but I know how tough Augusta is these days."

The 35-year-old McArthur struggled Sunday, posting a 5-over 77 to drop into a tie for 34th at 286.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015022/leaderboard/index.html .