ZANDVOORT, Netherlands, 14 August 2006 — Simon Dyson claimed his second title of the season when the Briton beat Australian Richard Green at the first extra hole of a sudden death playoff in the Dutch Open yesterday.
Dyson’s birdie separated the pair, who had finished on 14-under-par 270, a stroke ahead of Ireland’s Damien McGrane.
McGrane led the field by three strokes going into the final round but the Irishman closed with a 70, paying for being becalmed for the first eight holes.
That allowed Dyson, who shot a 66, and Green, firing a 65, to overtake him.
When the playoff pair took on the 18th for the second time of asking in the day, Dyson’s pitch and putt from eight feet saw him add to his maiden title in March, the Indonesia Open.
Green, who surprised the golfing world in 1997 by beating Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam in a playoff for the Desert Classic, had to settle for his sixth European Tour second place since his win in Dubai.
Green fired two birdies in the last three holes but Englishman Dyson battled the Australian left-hander by picking up three shots in the last four.
It was a nervy finish by Dyson, though, as his par putt on the 72nd hole from only two feet nearly missed the cup.
“I played the best golf I played all week for the last four holes,” the 28-year-old former Asian Tour money-list winner Dyson told reporters.
“The short putt at the last I hit too straight and firm but the putt at the playoff hole dropped deadweight.”
Runner-up Green, who broke the course record by two strokes with a 62 in the third round to storm through the field, said: “I’ve given it as good an effort over the weekend as I could and I know I’m now playing well enough to win a another tournament soon.” The Australian, 66th in the world rankings before this result, will move on to Madinahh, Illinois, to play the US PGA Championship.
Players wore black ribbons in sympathy with Darren Clarke, whose wife Heather died earlier on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. Clarke’s great friend Paul McGinley decided to finish off the tournament, even though he confessed his “mind was not on the job at all.”
Colin Montgomerie said he admired McGinley’s decision to withdraw from next week’s PGA Championship, which could cost the Irishman Ryder Cup qualification.
“All credit to him,” said Montgomerie.
McGinley closed with a 70 to finish six-under. His 10th place on Europe’s Ryder Cup table was not under threat this week as his closest rival Paul Broadhurst of Britain missed the cut. Montgomerie finished seven-under with a 69, reporting his all-round game to be “only average” before making his final bid of the year for a maiden major title at Medinah.
