Cool Fisher hits jackpot

LESS than a week after Keegan Bradley won a dramatic three hole playoff to win the US PGA Championship, the European Tour’s finest descended upon the Prosper Golf Resort in Čeladná to compete for the Czech Open Title.

In a tense final round which included six birdies, young Englishman Oliver Fisher carded a three under par 69
to claim his maiden victory. Fisher, who had made only one cut in his first 21 tournaments this season, held
off the challenge of Mikael Lundberg, Fabrizio Zannoti and Gary Boyd to win the title by two shots.

The first round was played in near perfect conditions and many players took advantage of the soft greens to post a low score. Irishman Peter Lawrie shot an excellent round of 66 to lead by one shot over compatriot Damien McGrane, Spaniard Pedro Oriol and Frenchman Victor Dubuisson.

Lawrie, runner-up in the event last year, played what he described as ‘lovely golf’ in a round which included six
birdies and no bogeys. The conditions for the second round could not have been much different with high winds and a midafternoon thunderstorm halting play for over 90 minutes. However, Swede Lundberg braved the weather to post an impressive 68 to move to seven under par and into a tie for the lead with Spaniard José Manuel Lara.

The pair held a one shot lead over a number of players including Boyd, McGrane and Shane Lowry. Miguel Angel Jiminez, Nick Dougherty and former Bahrain Open champion Andrew Marshall were three of the many players who failed to make the cut.

The biggest mover of the third round was Scotland’s Steven O’Hara who stormed into a share of the lead with a stunning round of 65. His ten under par third round total was matched by Fisher whose tidy round of 68 included four birdies and an eagle at the par four 11th. Englishman Boyd kept himself in contention by completing his back nine in 32 and was only two shots off the lead. A further shot behind was the second round leader Lundberg who battled his way to a level par round of 72.

In a final round where both of the leaders were searching for their first wins on the European Tour, there were no apparent nerves on show. Both players made par at the first six holes before Fisher made a significant move towards the title with a hat-trick of birdies from the seventh.

Boyd was also three under for the first nine holes before four bogeys in six holes on the back nine effectively ended his challenge. Lundberg and Paraguayan Zanotti, who made 11 birdies between them in the final round, made a strong challenge for the title but eventually came up just short.

In strangely similar circumstances to the final round of last week’s champion Bradley, Fisher survived a scare in his back nine (where he dropped three shots) and birdied two of his last three holes to lift the title. As a reward, Fisher, who was in serious danger of losing his European Tour card due to his poor run of form, now has a two-year exemption and walked away with the €250,000