Bradley Dredge of Wales, who posted the 11th round of 60 on The European Tour International Schedule a year ago, returns to the scene of his first Tour title when he defends the Madeira Island Open at Santo da Serra Golf Club this week.
Dredge played the round of his life on the third day of the tournament high above the rolling Atlantic breakers, having a long-range putt for a 59 – albeit with preferred lies in operation – before settling for a wonderful 60 and an eight stroke lead over the field.
Ultimately, Dredge was able to cruise home with a closing 71 to maintain that margin over his rivals, taking the title with a 16 under par total of 272 with Fredrik Andersson Hed of Sweden and the English pair of Brian Davis and Andrew Marshall sharing second place.
Both Andersson Hed and Marshall are back in the field aiming to go one better this time around while current Dutch Open champion, Maarten Lafeber of The Netherlands, tees up along with 2001 Volvo PGA Champion, Andrew Oldcorn of Scotland and last year’s Dubai Desert Classic winner, Robert-Jan Derksen.
Dredge, 18th on the Volvo Order of Merit in 2002 and Ian Woosnam’s partner in the last two World Golf Championships – World Cups, is now attempting to follow in the footsteps of Swede Mats Lanner by becoming only the second player to capture the title for a second time.
Lanner, now a Referee on The European Tour, won in 1994 and 1998, while other past champions in search of that same objective are the Spanish pair of Diego Borrego and Santiago Luna, who won in 1995 and 2002 respectively, and Ryder Cup player Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden, the 1996 champion.
Luna is one of only two players to lead from start to finish to win the title – the other being Niclas Fasth of Sweden, who went on to claim Ryder Cup honours – while Sandelin completed a final round comeback in 1996, coming from five strokes off the pace to claim victory.
First played in 1993 and a popular holiday destination for The European Tour Members and their families, the Madeira Island Open was the venue for Des Smyth’s historic win in 2001 when the Irishman became the oldest winner on The European Tour at 48 years and 34 days.
