Manley Finnish-es the job for maiden win<\/p>\n
Stuart Manley marched to his maiden European Challenge Tour title at the Finnish Challenge as a clinical final day performance earned him a three under par round of 69 and a two-shot victory at Kyt\u00e4j\u00e4 Golf, in Hyvink\u00e4\u00e4 near Helsinki.<\/p>\n
The Welshman has been a regular on both The European Tour and Challenge Tour since 2004 and has let chances slip before to claim a first title, but he made no mistake this time after bouncing back from a bogey on the opening hole to produce a nerveless performance when it mattered most.<\/p>\n
A birdie at the opening par five, the third hole, calmed his nerves before he summoned the kind of form which produced 18 birdies, an eagle and just two bogeys in the opening three rounds.<\/p>\n
Manley picked up two more shots at the fifth and seventh holes to reach the turn in two under and he extended his overnight lead from two shots to three thanks to a birdie at the par five 12th.<\/p>\n
From there on in, it was a textbook performance in closing out a tournament from the Aberdare man and he clinched back to back birdies at the reachable par five 12th and the par four 13th to stroll to victory on the splendid North West course at the lakeside venue. He was even afforded the luxury of a bogey at the last before finishing on 21 under and picking up the \u20ac27,200 cheque.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m just delighted to be honest,\u201d said Manley. \u201cIt\u2019s relief too. I used up a lot of energy today. It was tough because I didn\u2019t have my A-game but I got the ball around well and positioned it well, didn\u2019t take any risky shots and putted pretty solidly again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just patience and being positive. I played the first well but three-putted it and I couldn\u2019t believe it, I had putted so well all week. I thought, \u2018I didn\u2019t need that\u2019 but I turned it around and nobody really came at me that hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have had three or four second places and if I had lost again today, I would have been thinking \u2018what have I got to do\u2019 so it\u2019s a massive monkey off my back and hopefully now if I’m in that situation again I can relish it instead of being a bit anxious.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you\u2019re in that position you get more used to it, but you still have to get over that line and there\u2019s nothing better than winning. I feel great. It puts me in a great position now to attack the big events for the rest of the season so I couldn\u2019t have asked for anything more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9-Filipe Lima was the closest to catching Manley as the Portuguese carded three birdies and an eagle at the 17th to briefly threaten but he unfortunately ran out of holes and had to settle for outright second place, also moving to second place in the Rankings as his consistent season continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was chipping and putting well today and it was a good five under,\u201d said the former European Tour winner, who signed for a five under par 67 to finish on 19 under. \u201cI\u2019m just looking for that win now and I know I’m not far away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to be patient and keep playing well and I’m quite happy to do that. I did a lot of work before the season so I’m happy, but the year is not over and I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three shots further back in tied third place were Englishman Jamie Elson, who carded a four under par 68, and Swede Jens Fahrbring, whose level par 72 earned him the best result of his Challenge Tour career.<\/p>\n
Fran\u00e7ois Calmels\u2019 search for a third victory this year – which would earn him automatic promotion to The European Tour – continues despite the Frenchman\u2019s charge on the final day, picking up four birdies and an eagle in his opening 12 holes to get to within three of the lead at one point, before finishing in tied fifth place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manley Finnish-es the job for maiden win Stuart Manley marched to his maiden European Challenge Tour title at the Finnish Challenge as a clinical final day performance earned him a three under par round of 69 and a two-shot victory at Kyt\u00e4j\u00e4 Golf, in Hyvink\u00e4\u00e4 near Helsinki. The Welshman has been a regular on both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t