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Englishman ends long wait to land his first European Tour title with one-shot win over Fisher
Raajiv Tripathi
DOHA
It's all destiny that Englishman Eddie Pepperell was able to lay his hands on his first European Tour title the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters (CBQM). The course and conditions kept varying, making the Doha Golf Club layout, designed by Peter Harradine, arguably one of the toughest on the circuit.
The 27-year-old Pepperell, who couldn't win anything since claiming the Open Cotes d'Armor Bretagne on the Challenge Tour in 2012 despite playing many a solid rounds and tournaments since then, contested with his great friend, countryman and playing partner Oliver Fisher on a dramatic final day.
The two separated by just one shot entering the final par-5 hole, raising hopes for a possible playoff. Even as Fisher, who fought back after dropping three shots at a stage, squandered his birdie opportunity narrowly to card a 71 for a 17 under aggregate, Pepperell, whose approach shot from the rough landed more than 10 feet to the left of the pin, took two putts to par the hole and register his breakthrough victory with an 18 under 270 total.
Immediately after rolling the ball in, Pepperell took his cap off and celebrated his long-awaited triumph by throwing the ball long onto the course to a big applause from the crowd. Apart from the Mother of Pearl Trophy, the Englishman took home 236,315 euros. The second-place finish was worth 157,543 euros for the 29-year-old, whose one and only win on the Tour had come in the 2011 Czech Open.
The triumph by Pepperell in the 129th Tour appearance was second by an Englishman in Doha after Chris Wood raised the trophy aloft in 2013. He was fourth in 2015 with two missed cuts, including last year, in his previous five starts.
Pepperell collected 305,058 points to zoom to 13th in the 2018 European Tour Rankings from 188th. Also he is now the third player from England to win a title on the 2018 European Tour season, following Chris Paisley (BMW SA Open) and Tommy Fleetwood (Omega Dubai Desert Classic).
Swede Markus Kinult played a good round of 68 to total 16 under 272 and finish third, getting 88,762 euros. Four players shared the fourth spot one shot further down Spaniards Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Pablo Larrazabal alongside French Gregory Havret and Renato Paratore. Each collected 55,795 euros. Paratore fired eight birdies and dropped a shot to get a 66, which only French Romain Wattel could emulate today, to shoot from a tied 23rd to get a share of the fourth spot.
George Coetzee (South Africa) and Sebastian Heisele (Germany) returned a 68 each to win the eighth spot jointly with minus 14 total, earning 33,605 euros each.
Adrian Otaegui, the second day leader from Spain, French Mike Lorenzo-Vera and British Matthew Baldwin were tied for the 10th with 13 under 275. They collected 26,279 euros apiece.
When the day began under strong wind and overcast conditions with the course being a bit soggy after the overnight rain, Pepperell had been consistent up to the first eight holes. His other playing partners Fisher and American Sean Crocker, third after three days, had a horrible time.
While Fisher dropped three shots, Crocker had four setbacks to have their challenge weakened considerably. On the other hand, Pepperell sank the ball off the par-5 ninth to post his first birdie of the day and widen his lead to under 17. He added another birdie to get to minus 18 off the next and threatened the course total record of 268, shared by Doha double winners Paul Lawrie (1999) and Adam Scott (2008).
Crocker started the back nine with a birdie but dropped two shots off the par-3 13th. Though he collected a second birdie, he would go to finish with 10 under 278 in a tied 28th, both Fisher and Pepperell went through ups and downs to create a suspenseful finish. A dropped shot by Pepperell on the par-4 15th and a birdie off the next meant he reached two under for the day. However, Fisher upped the ante with two birdies in three holes to start his return journey.
Fisher lost a shot off the 13th but recovered it on the 14th to start putting pressure on the leader. Then he turned on more heat on Pepperell by collecting two more birdies in the next three holes. Both then came down to the final hole off which Fisher was better placed. But his birdie putt curved slightly inward to miss the cup by a whisker and Pepperell, whose third shot landed in the rough, parred the hole to defend the slender lead and secure the win.
Fisher said about his fightback,"I hit a lot of good shots coming down the back nine and gave myself a lot of good chances, but there were just too many bogeys today four in total so you're never going to win a tournament making that many mistakes on a Sunday. But at least I pressed him all the way.
"I was proud of myself the way I settled down and made some good swings coming around the turn. It's not the result I wanted, but there was some good stuff there. I think it was 268 to the front of the green on the 18th and it was slightly into the wind off a downslope so it was a bit of a shame that I couldn't give the three wood a crack but that's all I could have done," Fisher added.
"I'm feeling good and it is a big relief. This is the first (win) for me at last. I'm as pleased as I can be. I did not have any expectations, to be honest with you. I have had some good opportunities win before in the 2013 and 2014, I guess. Then I had some of the struggle in the 2016," said Pepperell.
"I wouldn't say that I have had chances to win before but I would add that I did not have a lot of great chances to win as I had here. I played really well from the tee to green. I am very happy with the wedge and iron play. Even today, I had a good front nine and played to my strength. So I feel it was great to win the title here," added Pepperell, who lost his card in 2016 before getting it back immediately through Q-School.
After that, Pepperell has been doing well on the Tour, landing four top fives and three top tens from his last 10 events in 2017. He missed the cut in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai Desert Classic but started to regain his rhythm through the Maybank Championship and the Oman Open. He continued to build up and emulated Chris, combining patience and precision.
"Oli made it really tough and I made it tough for myself with the second shot at 18. I felt good all day, I felt comfortable. I didn't feel that comfortable with my swing but I was in a great place mentally and I kept telling myself that I'm going to win this.
"I feel it is just another good performance with a win. I had a lot of good performances last year but I feel sometimes there is a very thin margin between the winner, second and third. It is really tough to win here and it is so tough to be consistent among top five or top 10. I think I have achieved that but the only thing is that I have not been able to achieve any win before. I feel that if I'm consistent, my time will come and today it did come. I think if I play the way I played here, I'll have more wins."
Talking about the tense final hole shots, the winner said, "Oli had a chance and if he had holed it, this would have been a great finish. This is just a game margin. I have had it go against me many times in the past. Today it worked for me. There would be more such times in my career where golf will make a lot of sense of pride for me," Pepperell added.
Commercial Bank Qatar Masters Scores (To par 72)
1. Eddie Pepperell (Eng) -18 (65, 69, 66, 70) 270 - € 236,315
2.Oliver Fisher (Eng) -17 (66, 69, 65, 71) 271 - € 157,543
3.Markus Kinhult (Swe) -16 (68, 69, 67, 68) 272 - € 88,762
4.Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) -15 (68, 68, 69, 68) 273 - € 55,795
Gergoy Havret (Fra) -15 (65, 69, 70, 69) 273 - € 55,795
Pablo Larrabazal (Esp) -15 (68, 67, 70, 68) 273 - € 55,795
Renato Paratore (Ita) -15 (71, 66, 70, 66) 273 - € 55,795
8.George Coetzee (RSA) -14 (69, 66, 71, 68) 274 - € 33,605
Sebastian Heisele (Ger) -14 (67, 68, 71, 68) 274 - € 33,605
10.Matthew Baldwin (Eng) -13 (68, 70, 68, 69) 275 - € 26,279
Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) -13 (68, 68, 69, 70) 275 - € 26,279
Adrian Otaegui (Esp) -13 (67, 66, 73, 69) 275 - € 26,279.
