England’s Paul Broadhurst birdied the final hole to retain his Algarve Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos title by a stroke from compatriot Anthony Wall after a thrilling final round at Le Meridien Penina Golf and Resort. Broadhurst closed out the defence of his title with a brilliant five under par 67 for a total of 17 under par 271 to claim his sixth European Tour victory.
The win also puts the the 40 year old in the frame for a second Ryder Cup cap, 15 years after his sole appearance as he moved to eighth on The European Ryder Cup List.
The Englishman, who had led the first two rounds and equaled the course record of 64 on Thursday, began the day a stroke adrift of Ricardo Gonzalez but the Argentine lost ground with an opening bogey.
Broadhurst then charged into what proved to be an unassailable position with five birdies in six holes from the second, establishing a three-shot advantage by the turn.
European Challenge Tour graduate Andres Romero of Argentina provided the main threat to Broadhurst for a time, moving to within a stroke after the Englishman double bogeyed the 13th.
A better finish by Wall, who birdied three of the last four holes, took him past Romero and put Broadhurst under pressure. Wall picked up a shot on the 18th for a 67 and Broadhurst bogeyed the 17th, to put the pair on equal terms.
However, after overshooting the green on the 18th, Broadhurst produced an accomplished chip to 18 inches to claim victory, while Wall had to be content with his best finish since his 2000 Alfred Dunhill Championship success.
After re-collecting his trophy – and a winner’s cheque for €208,330 – Broadhurst revealed that Ryder Cup Captain Ian Woosnam had called him immediately after he had signed the winning scorecard to offer his congratulations.
“Woosie’s a great mate of mine and he has phoned me already to congratulate me. He didn’t mention anything about The Ryder Cup – he knows me better than that! He just phoned to say well done and I wished him all the best for The Masters next week.
“I’d love to play in The Ryder Cup, obviously,” said Broadhurst who is now fifth on The European Tour Order of Merit. “I thought today was a big test – especially when I was leading early on and I wanted to test myself. The Ryder Cup is a totally different type of pressure – probably more than playing in the Portuguese Open. If you blow up here then you have let yourself down and that’s it, but if you mess up in The Ryder Cup then you have let a whole team down.
“But there is a way to go before that comes round and I am just delighted to defend this title. When I was over the chip on 18 I was just thinking that I would never have a better chance to win a tournament. The big decision was standing on the 18th tee when I didn’t know ether to hit driver or three wood. I thought the driver might be a bit too much because the wind was all over the place.
“But I pulled the driver out because I had hit a three wood yesterday and didn’t hit it very well and I was just looking to put it in position and then I just had to put a five iron on the green – which I didn’t! I was just trying to make sure that I didn’t hit it right of the green because you can’t make four from there. If you miss it left then you have a putt for birdie. It wasn’t bad lie and as soon as I hit it I thought it was going in.”