Catlin denies Kaymer first win for six years
John Catlin. Picture: Getty Images
American John Catlin denied two-time Major champion, Martin Kaymer, his first win for six years with a nerveless one-shot victory following a dramatic tussle in the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters at Valderrama.
Just a week after a 71st hole bogey cost Kaymer his chance of victory in the ISPS Handa UK Championship at the Belfry, the German star (35) was left to rue late mistakes as he sought to win for the first time since the 2014 US Open triumph.
Catlin started the day two shots clear but despite making four bogeys, he made a series of crucial par-saving putts to go to the penultimate hole tied for the lead with Kaymer on two-over-par.
The American's hopes of a maiden European Tour win appeared to fade when he overshot the famous, par-five 17th after watching Kaymer hit a stunning, 131-yard third to six feet.
But the four-time Asian Tour winner managed to get up and down for his and after watching Kaymer miss his six-footer, he two-putted the 18th from long range for a four and 75 as the German bunkered his approach and made bogey.
"I don't think it's quite sunk in but that was my goal at the start of 2019, to win on the European Tour so to have actually accomplished that is pretty hard to put into words right now," said Caitlin, who singled out his par save at the 15th and his winning experiences in Asia as key.
"My past experience was very helpful in that regard, I knew I had done it before," he said. "Even when things were not quite going my way in the early part of that back nine, I knew if I just stayed patient and kept going I would give myself a chance.
"It’s very difficult, the hardest part was hitting the fairways. The wind is cross-breeze on most of them, down right to left or down from left to right, into left to right so if you get any kind of wrong spin going you can end up in the rough and the greens are just getting firmer and firmer.
"So fairways are a must, and I managed to make the fairway on 18 and that might have been the difference.
"I’m massively excited to play the big events. That’s what we play for, we all want to play against the best. That’s why playing with guys like Martin, and I played with Rory, Brooks, playing with those guys just shows you you can do it so having the opportunity to play those events is just fantastic.
"I’d planned on playing everything for the rest of the year, but being able to pick and choose – the one event that has stuck out is having the chance to play Wentworth. That’s such a world-class event, I’ve been watching it on TV for the last 15 years. To have the opportunity to play that tournament, I’m very excited about that. ”
Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, Real Club Valderrama, Sotogrande (Par 71)
286 J Catlin (Usa) 69 70 72 75
287 M Kaymer (Ger) 72 72 69 74
288 W Besseling (Ned) 75 72 69 72, J Harding (Rsa) 71 75 71 71, A Rozner (Fra) 76 69 73 70
289 G Migliozzi (Ita) 69 74 74 72, W Nienaber (Rsa) 72 70 76 71
291 C Syme (Sco) 69 72 76 74, M Kawamura (Jpn) 73 73 74 71
292 J Donaldson (Wal) 72 69 73 78, L Gagli (Ita) 74 69 71 78, S Valimaki (Fin) 77 69 69 77, J Veerman (Usa) 73 73 72 74, D Horsey (Eng) 74 73 72 73, S Brown (Eng) 73 74 74 71, L Westwood (Eng) 76 73 76 67,
293 A Otaegui (Esp) 77 71 68 77, A Quiros (Esp) 72 73 74 74, J Campillo (Esp) 69 78 72 74, R Langasque (Fra) 77 73 69 74, J Hansen (Den) 74 74 74 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 73 74 76 70, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 76 73 75 69,
294 P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 70 78 75, D Coupland (Eng) 72 76 71 75, M Southgate (Eng) 76 73 70 75, J Lagergren (Swe) 77 72 70 75, E Ferguson (Sco) 73 76 73 72, J Gonnet (Fra) 75 75 72 72, R MacIntyre (Sco) 80 69 75 70
295 T Detry (Bel) 73 72 74 76, B Wiesberger (Aut) 75 71 73 76, A Wu (Chn) 77 71 72 75, J Winther (Den) 77 68 76 74, C Howie (Sco) 75 75 71 74, M Schneider (Ger) 76 74 73 72, D Perrier (Fra) 76 70 78 71, R Hojgaard (Den) 71 79 75 70, W Ormsby (Aus) 74 76 75 70, V Perez (Fra) 76 74 76 69,
296 S Kjeldsen (Den) 71 72 74 79, P Oriol (Esp) 75 72 71 78, A Cañizares (Esp) 73 70 79 74, G Havret (Fra) 75 73 74 74, C Pigem (Esp) 75 73 74 74, J Guerrier (Fra) 74 74 75 73, A Levy (Fra) 75 75 75 71
297 R Wattel (Fra) 74 74 71 78, P Angles (Esp) 70 77 76 74, T Tree (Eng) 72 77 75 73, T Olesen (Den) 72 77 76 72
298 R Mcgowan (Eng) 72 72 75 79, J Luiten (Ned) 79 69 75 75, G Fernandez-Castaño (Esp) 75 71 79 73, M Jordan (Eng) 81 69 75 73, P Waring (Eng) 73 77 77 71
299 B Stow (Eng) 74 73 71 81, J Mcleod (Aus) 71 73 78 77, A Bjork (Swe) 74 73 75 77, T Bjorn (Den) 72 76 74 77, A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 75 74 74 76
300 R Bland (Eng) 78 72 70 80, R Roussel (Fra) 75 71 76 78, Jonathan Caldwell (Nir) 73 75 75 77, B Easton (Rsa) 76 73 76 75
301 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 76 71 75 79, G Forrest (Sco) 78 72 76 75
302 R Santos (Por) 78 70 73 81, N Elvira (Esp) 77 70 75 80, F Laporta (Ita) 76 73 77 76
303 M Schmitt (Ger) 71 75 76 81, B Evans (Eng) 75 73 78 77, A Saddier (Fra) 73 77 76 77
304 R Jacquelin (Fra) 75 73 77 79, R Karlberg (Swe) 76 74 78 76
305 E Molinari (Ita) 76 73 76 80
306 J Kruger (Rsa) 74 74 76 82
