South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli joined the band of first-time European Tour winners after calming the nerves to win the Lyoness Open on Sunday, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Like Erik Van Rooyen and Dean Burmester earlier in the season, Frittelli now has a European Tour win to his name after a drama-filled Sunday at the Diamond Country Club.
Heading into Sunday two behind Chile’s Felipe Aguilar, who blew out with a 75, Frittelli moved swiftly to the top of the pile with three birdies in his opening four holes. A closing birdie on 9 saw him turn in 32 and walking confidently down each of the fairways he hit.
Austria has been kind to Frittelli, the scene of one of his two Challenge Tour wins, and it appeared that it would be the scene of his big breakthrough on Sunday. Another birdie at 11 saw him stretch his lead. Finland’s Mikko Korhonen then briefly joined him at the top before ultimately faltering away.
For Frittelli, it was a day going exactly according to plan until he missed the green on 13. Left with a devilishly hard chip, the 27-year-old got up and down to save par and stay at five under for the day.
But that’s when things took a turn for the worse …
A wayward tee shot on the 14th meant that his six-footer was to save bogey and not par, as he dropped into a four-way share of the lead with, among others, South Afric’s Jbe Kruger. Kruger’s Sunday went into overdrive after he eagled the 12 to move into contention. He birdied 15 and 16 to take the lead, but a bogey on 18, where he found the greenside bunker and two-putted, saw him forced to settle for a Sunday 67 and a share of second place.
Frittelli’s nerves began to show as he missed the 15th fairway off the tee before finding a horrible lie short of the green after his second failed to turn on to the fairway, which meant he had little to no chance of getting up and down for a birdie. In fact, his lengthy downhill putt could’ve turned out far worse, had he not judged the pace to perfection as he safely negotiated his par.
Needing a good solid drive on the par 5 16th, like he’d done all week, he found the fairway and hit his second almost pin high to relieve some of the tension. A wonderful chip shot almost found the hole, which left a tap-in birdie to help move Frittelli back to the top of the leaderboard once again.
A timely confidence boost which just two holes to play.
A roar from the University of Texas man after his putt on 17 meant he headed to the par 3 18th with a one-shot advantage. Find the green and two-putt for a maiden title was the scenario, and that’s exactly what he did on what turned out to be the perfect Sunday.
Frittelli’s winning scorecard:
Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images
