Edited by Anand Datla
September 06, 2015: Lee Slattery claimed an emotional second European Tour title at the M2M Russian Open, where he held his nerve with a crucial par putt at the final hole to emerge from an enthralling finale with a one shot victory. Jyoti Randhawa made an eagle for the third straight day, but a string of bogeys dropped him to T42 at the end of the tournament. Rahil Gangjee seemed set to address his midweek slump, but a 71 in the final round was only enough to give him a T59 finish in Moscow.
The Englishman entered the final day with a two stroke advantage and started in impressive fashion with a birdie at the first hole, but he soon found himself over par with bogeys at the second and sixth holes.
The 37 year old dug deep, however, and as a host of challengers began to emerge, he picked up three shots on the way home – including a hugely important holed chip at the 17th – before sinking a knee-jangling three footer at the 18th for a par which earned him a two under 69, a 15 under total and a first win since the 2011 Madrid Masters.
Slattery was visibly emotional in a post-round interview and dedicated the win to the ill father of his wife Faye.
“It’s funny, the thing that’s been letting me down most has probably been my short game in the last few months, so I’ve worked so hard at that. To chip one in at such an important time meant so much and it shows that practice pays off eventually,” acknnowledged an elated Slattery.
“At 18, I had 123 yards into a slight breeze and I just tried to chip a wedge and, as you can tell it flew a little bit further, and I pulled it a fraction as well, which is quite easy to do.”
“It wasn’t the way I wanted to finish but it’s always nice to know you can hole a three foot putt on the last to win a tournament, so that meant a lot.”
Randhawa made his second eagle of the week at the third hole, but three bogeys in four holes ahead of the turn saw him drop back to one over for the final round. Randhawa gave away another bogey at the 12th before a double bogey six at the 14th all but destroyed any hopes of a strong finish for the Indian golfer.
After a birdie at the 14th, Gangjee appeared set to emulate the 68 he made in the first round this past week. But a triple bogey seven at the par-4 15th hole undid the good start. Even though he recovered his poise to add a birdie at the 16th, he had to content himself with a 71.
Argentinian Estanislao Goya, playing alongside Slattery, held the lead for large portions of the final day but even a birdie at the last was not enough as he finished in outright second place on 14 under following a three under 68.
Last year’s champion of this event, David Horsey, finished in third place on his own on 13 under after a three under final round 68 while the 2013 winner Michael Hoey was one of four players a shot further back on 12 under par, sharing fourth place.
“It’s been a while since I’ve gone so long without a bogey (48 holes). I played great the last three or four days. After how I have started the year, this tournament gave me a real taste of it again and even thought I was leading and I finished second, Lee played great and finished great to chip in at 17,” said Goya.
“I did the best I could, I think I played great and he beat me by one. What can I do, I’m pretty happy anyway.”
Scores:
269 L Slattery (Eng) 66 67 67 69
270 E Goya (Arg) 68 67 67 68
271 D Horsey (Eng) 67 70 66 68
272 O Henningsson (Swe) 69 68 67 68, J Heath (Eng) 70 66 71 65, P Martin Benavides (Esp) 68 67 70 67, M Hoey (Nir) 71 66 71 64
Indians
283 J Randhawa (Ind) 68 73 68 74
286 R Gangjee (Ind) 68 73 74 71
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Source: European Tour Press Release
