European Open: Richard McEvoy wins first European Tour title

Veteran Englishman Richard McEvoy took home the European Open title for his first victory, as favorites Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed leave Germany with gritted teeth.

It was all right in front of him. Despite a middling day at Green Eagle, Bryson DeChambeau sat on the 15th tee in the lead by one at 11-under par. The highly touted American was the favorite to leave the Porsche European Open with riches, especially with three par-5s in the closing holes and a pack of unproven competitors as his closest chasers.

DeChambeau lost control of his driver, and his emotions, and played the final four holes in 5-over. Instead, it was his playing partner, 39-year-old Englishman Richard McEvoy who stayed cool and calm under pressure.

The two began the day tied at the top at 12-under.

McEvoy made par on his first five holes while allowing DeChambeau to combust with bogeys on 4 and 5.

DeChambeau righted the ship with a birdie on 8 while a bogey-birdie-bogey stretch on 6-7-8 for McEvoy brought to the two back to level at 11-under.

It was clear DeChambeau didn’t have his “A” game on a somewhat difficult day for scoring in Hamburg. Nonetheless, six straight pars for DeChambeau and a 1-over stretch from McEvoy made it appear he could hobble in to the finish line.

As the final group came down the stretch, they saw Patrick Reed (T9, -7) and Paul Casey (T7, -8) fall just short.

German amateur Allen John, a deaf 30-year-old ranked No. 944 in the world, shot 5-under 67 to post low round of the day and set a healthy 10-under for the clubhouse lead.

John was followed by Christofer Blomstrand and Renato Paratore who all would eventually warm up for a potential playoff.

DeChambeau made bogies on 15 and 16 and needed a 3-4 finish to get to 11-under. He made a solid up-and-down on 17 but hit two balls into the water on 18 to plummet to a T13 finish and a Sunday 78.

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McEvoy birdied 15 to get to 11-under and in control of the lead. He showed some nerves by only making par 5 on 16 and a bogey on the par-3 17th. He needed a birdie to win on the par-5 18th and did just that.

He overruled his caddie’s advice and played the 517-yard hole as a three-shot hole. He laid up to a good number but was conservative on his approach to leave a 20-plus footer.

McEvoy, whose best result on the European Tour was a pair of third-place finishes, looked like he’d been there before.

He knew what the putt meant for his chances and coolly rolled it in for the win.

Richard McEvoy goes back-to-back

McEvoy came into the week ranked 275th in the world with a T15 at the Belgian Knockout his best European Tour finish this year. Yet, he was still on good form.

McEvoy won by two last week on the Challenge Tour and has been building confidence this summer.

He got a taste of hanging with the big boys, which paid off coming down the stretch against former Masters and U.S. Amateur champions.

"“It started a couple of weeks ago, I played a pro-am at Queenwood and shot 64 – a course record – and beat the likes of Rory, Justin Rose, Adam Scott and a few other boys and that was the start of the confidence kick, really,” McEvoy said. “Last week was obviously another boost to the confidence and I’ve come good again this week.”"

European Open: Chip shots

• Well-rounded: Richard McEvoy finished sixth in driving accuracy, eighth in greens in regulation and sixth in putts per GIR. He also had the low round of the week when he shot 7-under 65 on Friday.
• Drive for show, putt for dough: Felipe Aguilar finished first in fairways hit (75 percent) and GIR (81.9) but was 67th out of 74 in total putts. Aguilar placed T29 at 3-under.
• Other notable finishes: Charl Schwartzel (T9, -7), defending champion Jordan Smith (T64, +3), Adrian Otaegui (T68, +4).

European Open: Top-10 leaderboard

1.Richard McEvoy (-11)

T2. Allen John (am), Christofer Blomstrand, Renato Paratore (-10)

T5. Hideto Tanihara, Romain Wattel (-9)

T7. Paul Casey, Matthias Schwab (-8)

T9. Matthew Nixon, Charl Schwartzel, David Drysdale, Patrick Reed (-7)