Wiesberger tops Fleetwood in Shenzhen International play-off; Dunne 33rd
SHENZHEN, CHINA - APRIL 23: Bernd Wiesberger of Austria poses with the trophy after winning the Shenzhen International at Genzon Golf Club on April 22, 2017 in Shenzhen, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)
Bernd Wiesberger beat Tommy Fleetwood with a stunning birdie at the first extra hole to win the Shenzhen International - his fourth European Tour title - on a dramatic final day at Genzon Golf Club.
As Greystones' Paul Dunne closed with a 70 to finish tied 33rd on six under (€ 19,447), Wiesberger saw his three-shot overnight lead disappear when Fleetwood fired a stunning 63 to set the clubhouse target and share top spot at 16-under.
The Austrian made excellent par saves on the 12th and 17th and nearly hit the pin with his approach to the last but was forced to settle for a par and a trip back up the 18th with Fleetwood for a play-off.
So close to a hole-out eagle to win it...
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) April 23, 2017
...but Wiesberger will face Fleetwood in a play-off. pic.twitter.com/6ecmgfY98Z
Despite coming within a few yards of going into the hazard with his tee shot on the hardest hole on the course, Wiesberger hit a stunning approach with the ball below his feet to around six feet and rolled in the birdie putt to win on his debut in the tournament.
The 31-year-old, who has not missed a cut since the 2016 US PGA Championship, also ended a run of losing in playoff with his first success coming at the fourth attempt.
England's Ross Fisher (68) held a share of the lead on the 18th tee but a three-putt bogey saw him fall out of the play-off into a share of third alongside France’s Grégory Bourdy on 15-under-par.
There were just 3 birdies on the 18th all day.
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) April 23, 2017
One of them won @BWiesberger the #ShenzhenIntl. pic.twitter.com/u5OuWU0Qcq
Congratulations @BWiesberger.
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) April 23, 2017
Winner of the #ShenzhenIntl, beating Fleetwood on the 1st play-off hole. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/MOya0STa4o
Bernd Wiesberger
"I'm feeling a bit relieved now I have to say. I've had a stretch of really good events the last couple of months and it's really nice to have a trophy again.
"We have really good players out here, all up for it, playing well and throwing a lot at me. At the end of the day I'm just glad I got myself into the spot where I could play for the title.
"Tommy (Fleetwood) has had a great day today and I'm just grateful to make that one shot when I needed to.
"I just wanted to get off to a good start and show them that I'm up for it and I did, scrapped around a little bit, had a couple of near misses with good looks at it early on. It could have gotten to me but I stayed calm, played on decently."
Tommy Fleetwood
"I've played well all week and I was really disappointed, it was stressing me out that I couldn't really get anything in the hole."
"Today, just a few putts went in and I kept it going all the way through and it was a good time to shoot a 63.
"As a goal I wanted to be one under for every three holes, that was 66 and if I beat that I thought I'll have had a good day and a good week."
Grégory Bourdy
“I finished strong and actually it was a nice week. A lot of positives, I hit some great drives and great putts - but I just felt confident during the week, and I feel like my game is here and I would like to get a win again soon.
Dylan Frittelli
“I made a bunch of pars, and a few birdies, a bit of a struggle on the greens today but I think I faired pretty well and I’m happy with the whole week’s performance
“This being my rookie season, it’s great to get a top-ten and finally crack through, I have had a lot of top-twenties in the last few events, so I haven’t really finished strong on the last nine but I did that today, I held on and did well.
“I’m feeling really good – next week we head on to Beijing – hopefully this form can continue there and throughout the rest of the season as well.
Final scores
272 B Wiesberger (Aut) 67 65 69 71, T Fleetwood (Eng) 69 71 69 63, (Wiesberger won with a birdie at the first extra hole, 18th)
273 R Fisher (Eng) 71 65 69 68, G Bourdy (Fra) 67 69 70 67,
274 F Zanotti (Par) 71 70 68 65, D Lipsky (USA) 73 65 67 69, D Frittelli (RSA) 68 68 68 70,
275 A Levy (Fra) 74 68 64 69, T Olesen (Den) 68 68 72 67, T Jaidee (Tha) 67 72 70 66,
276 G Coetzee (RSA) 70 68 67 71, L Yan-Wei (Chn) 69 71 66 70, P Larrazábal (Esp) 72 71 67 66,
277 J Smith (Eng) 69 69 69 70, E De La Riva (Esp) 68 73 69 67, M Southgate (Eng) 72 71 69 65, B Ritthammer (Ger) 69 73 69 66, D Im (USA) 69 70 69 69, A Björk (Swe) 71 67 71 68, B Rumford (Aus) 72 67 68 70,
278 K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 66 70 67, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 68 72 69, M Armitage (Eng) 71 71 68 68, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 69 73 67,
279 N Elvira (Esp) 71 74 68 66,
280 S Gallacher (Sco) 70 72 68 70, R Gouveia (Por) 72 72 69 67, B Watson (USA) 66 70 70 74,
281 P Hanson (Swe) 70 71 71 69, J Morrison (Eng) 70 66 74 71, J Luiten (Ned) 71 71 70 69, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 69 75 65,
282 A Dodt (Aus) 70 73 72 67, J Quesne (Fra) 71 68 71 72, P Uihlein (USA) 71 70 72 69, Paul Dunne (Irl) 70 72 70 70, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 70 72 71, L Xue-Wen (Chn) 71 72 70 69,
283 M Manassero (Ita) 70 71 75 67, N Colsaerts (Bel) 75 70 71 67, M Korhonen (Fin) 74 68 71 70, D Burmester (RSA) 67 70 68 78, D Stewart (Sco) 71 67 74 71, L Yuxin (Chn) 74 67 70 72,
284 B Hebert (Fra) 72 70 71 71, M Ilonen (Fin) 73 71 68 72, H Porteous (RSA) 67 73 72 72, B Stone (RSA) 74 71 64 75, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 72 70 72, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 72 73 72,
285 R Fox (Nzl) 71 71 69 74, S Brazel (Aus) 71 74 69 71,
286 L Bjerregaard (Den) 71 74 71 70, R Wattel (Fra) 71 73 71 71, R Bland (Eng) 73 71 71 71, C Zi-Hao (Chn) 73 69 72 72,
287 H Ze-Yu (Chn) 72 72 70 73, Z Hui-Lin (Chn) 71 74 70 72, G Storm (Eng) 74 68 74 71, R Karlberg (Swe) 74 70 70 73, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 76 71, W Hongfu (Chn) 72 69 76 70, D Drysdale (Sco) 70 72 73 72,
289 P Peterson (USA) 74 71 70 74, Y Tian (Chn) 71 73 71 74, J Walters (RSA) 73 70 74 72,
290 A Knappe (Ger) 74 70 72 74, G Havret (Fra) 70 71 78 71,
292 H Wen-Yi (Chn) 71 74 74 73,
293 E Molinari (Ita) 75 70 73 75,
294 J Lagergren (Swe) 72 72 81 69,
295 C Paisley (Eng) 72 73 76 74,
298 L Ding-Feng (Chn) 69 75 79 75.
