Shenzhen International: Weisberger wins after play-off


Bernd Wiesberger beat Tommy Fleetwood on the first hole of a play-off to win the Shenzhen International in China.

 Final leaderboard 


-16 Bernd Wiesberger, Tommy Fleetwood (Wiesberger won at first extra hole)
-15 Ross Fisher, Gregory Bourdy
-14 Fabrizio Zanotti, David Lipsky, Dylan Fritelli

Day four report


Bernd Wiesberger was crowned the Shenzhen International champion after beating Tommy Fleetwood in a dramatic play-off at Genzon Golf Club.

The Austrian was in control heading into the final day in China, holding a three-shot lead, but could not have envisaged the kind of performance Fleetwood was to produce.

The Englishman, eight shots behind at the start of his final round, carded an excellent 63 to level with Wiesberger, who could only par the 18th, on 16 under to ensure another trip down the last hole in the rain.

But Wiesberger held his nerve to secure a fourth European Tour victory in his 200th event, putting for birdie despite ending up in the bank after opting to take the risky line over the water off the tee.

The play-off victory was the first for in-form Wiesberger, who has not missed a cut since the US PGA Championship, in four attempts.

He told Sky Sports: "I knew it was going to be hard, I knew I would have to shoot well under par to make it outright because the guys behind were all really playing well.

"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 got to me but I stayed calm, played on decently.

"I had a big save on 12 there, a big one on 17 and 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 has had a great day today and I'm just grateful to make that one shot when I needed to."

Frenchman Gregory Bourdy and England's Ross Fisher finished one shot behind the co-leaders on 15 under, one ahead of Fabrizio Zanotti, David Lipsky and Dylan Frittelli.

Two-time former Masters champion Bubba Watson fired a final-round two-over par 74 to finish eight under.

The European Tour later announced that England's David Howell had forfeited his prize money after incurring a four-stroke penalty on his second-round score, which meant he would have missed the cut.

Howell approached officials at the end of the final day's play with concerns over his preferred lie on the 15th during Friday's play.

A statement read: "He was unsure if he had taken a preferred lie using the correct score card length or the incorrect club-length and therefore insisted on accepting the appropriate penalty."

It was agreed Howell, who had signed for a second-round 74, had both played from the wrong place and returned an incorrect scorecard under the rules.

Final-round collated scores


(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

(a) denotes amateurs)

272 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 65 69 71 (Wiesberger won at the first extra play-off hole), Tommy Fleetwood 69 71 69 63

273 Ross Fisher 71 65 69 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 67 69 70 67

274 David Lipsky (USA) 73 65 67 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 70 68 65, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 68 68 68 70

275 Alexander Levy (Fra) 74 68 64 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 68 68 72 67, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 67 72 70 66

276 Yan-wei Liu (Chn) 69 71 66 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 68 67 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 71 67 66

277 Brett Rumford (Aus) 72 67 68 70, Daniel Im (USA) 69 70 69 69, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 71 67 71 68, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 68 73 69 67, Jordan Smith 69 69 69 70, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 69 73 69 66, Matthew Southgate 72 71 69 65

278 Marcus Armitage 71 71 68 68, Richie Ramsay 69 68 72 69, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 66 70 67, Scott Jamieson 69 69 73 67

279 Nacho Elvira (Spa) 71 74 68 66

280 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 72 72 69 67, Stephen Gallacher 70 72 68 70, Bubba Watson (USA) 66 70 70 74

281 Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 71 71 69, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 71 70 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 69 75 65, James Morrison 70 66 74 71

282 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 70 72 71, Peter Uihlein (USA) 71 70 72 69, Paul Dunne 70 72 70 70, Xue-wen Luo (Chn) 71 72 70 69, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 73 72 67, Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 68 71 72

283 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 67 70 68 78, Duncan Stewart 71 67 74 71, (a) Yuxin Lin (Chn) 74 67 70 72, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 70 71 75 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 75 70 71 67, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 74 68 71 70

284 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 70 72 70 72, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 67 72 73 72, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 71 68 72, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 67 73 72 72, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 74 71 64 75, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 70 71 71

285 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 71 71 69 74, Sam Brazel (Aus) 71 74 69 71

286 Richard Bland 73 71 71 71, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 71 74 71 70, Zi-hao Chen (Chn) 73 69 72 72, Romain Wattel (Fra) 71 73 71 71

287 Ze-yu He (Chn) 72 72 70 73, David Drysdale 70 72 73 72, Hong-fu Wu (Chn) 72 69 76 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 76 71, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 74 70 70 73, Hui-lin Zhang (Chn) 71 74 70 72, Graeme Storm 74 68 74 71

289 Justin Walters (Rsa) 73 70 74 72, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 74 70 71 74, Paul Peterson (USA) 74 71 70 74

290 Tian Yuan (Chn) 71 73 72 74, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 71 78 71

292 Wen-yi Huang (Chn) 71 74 74 73

293 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 75 70 73 75

294 Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 72 72 81 69

295 Chris Paisley 72 73 76 74

296 David Howell 70 74 74 78

298 Ding-feng Liang (Chn) 69 75 79 75

Day three report


Bernd Wiesberger will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Shenzhen International after posting a third-round 69.

The 31-year-old Austrian held a four-shot lead after round two was completed earlier on Saturday, having carded a seven-under-par 65 on Friday before storms brought a premature end to play for the second day running.

He saw his lead wiped out by Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, whose strong start included a hole in one at the par-three third.

But Wiesberger kept his cool and, after collecting five birdies - albeit alongside two bogeys - in his third round, will go into Sunday three strokes ahead of Dylan Frittelli. The South African registered a third successive four-under-par 68 on Saturday.

England's Ross Fisher was one of four players sharing third place on 11 under. Fisher fired 69 in his third round and was four shots off the pace alongside American David Lipsky (67) and South African pair George Coetzee (67) and Dean Burmester (68).

Two-time former Masters champion Bubba Watson was a stroke further back after a 70 and was joined by French pair Alexander Levy (64) and Bourdy (70), and China's Liu Yan-wei (66).

"I didn't start off really well," Wiesberger told the European Tour's official website. "I hit a couple of crooked shots and left a couple of putts out there but then from when I holed the putt on seven I felt more comfortable and was rolling the ball a bit better.

"I was in a similar position a couple of weeks ago in Malaysia and had a sloppier day, so I'm happy with the way I bounced back and to shoot three under par is a decent score today.

"The guys were coming at me hard early on today as well so I'm expecting no less for tomorrow, so I'm just trying to commit to my shots and enjoy it out there."

Day two report


Bernd Wiesberger led by four shots after shooting a 65 in the second round of the Shenzen International when storms brought a premature end to play for the second day running.

The Austrian had returned to the Genzon Golf Club course on Friday morning to complete his opening round, held over from Thursday after the threat of lightning had led to a suspension which saw several players unable to finish.

After resuming, Wiesberger birdied the 17th en route to carding a 67 that saw him move within one of the lead.

He then picked up seven more shots in the second round to complete the day on 12 under.

With none of the afternoon players having completed more than nine holes of their second rounds before play was brought to another early finish, Wiesberger's closest challengers were Dylan Frittelli and Thorbjorn Olesen, who both posted 68s for the second successive day.

Scotland's Richie Ramsay was a shot back after also carding a 68, leaving him alongside Gregory Bourdy and first-round leader Bubba Watson, who were on course when the hooter sounded.

Wiesberger, who has finished in the top five seven times in the last eight months, told the European Tour website: "I can't complain about the score today. It was a long day, I got up at 0430 to finish a couple of holes.

"I started well and picked up from the day before. I hit a drive down 17 early in the morning and got my round in of 67 so I was pleased with that and I kept going that way, driving the ball nicely and putting really well.

"I was feeling comfortable when I was getting the ball on the green and rolling in well on the green, so that was key for me today to get something in the mid 60s.

"I played a few holes on Tuesday and I said to my caddie it feels like a course that suits me and suits my game. I knew I was playing decent coming into this week."

The second round will resume at 0630 on Saturday, with the third round due to go off two tees later in the morning.

Day one report


Bubba Watson topped the leaderboard at the Shenzhen International after an opening round curtailed first by the threat of lightning before darkness saw play suspended for the day.

Two-time Masters winner Watson, making his fourth appearance at the tournament, recovered from an early bogey to post a six-under 66 - his lowest round of the year to date.

That gave the American a one-shot lead over the rest of the field, with five players tied on five under and a further four just two off the pace.

Starting on the back nine, Watson dropped his only shot on his third hole - the 12th - but bounced back with three birdies over the next four holes to reach the turn in 34.

He picked up another shot on the first before sinking an eagle on the next, then finishing his round with a final birdie to card six under and claim the clubhouse lead at the Genzon Golf Club.

"You know anytime you shoot six under, shoot in the 60s, you're happy with it but every golfer can pick and choose what they wish they did better. But all in all a great day and a good start," Watson told the European Tour website.

"I just made putts today. Most of my swings and most of my shots were really good today and there were no bad swings in there so it just made the score better."

Watson had completed his round when almost two hours of play was lost because of the lightning threat, while South African pair Dean Burmester and Haydn Porteous, France's Gregory Bourdy, Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee and Maximilian Kieffer of Germany were also able to finish to sit within a shot of the leader.

Porteous mixed 10 birdies with three bogeys and a double bogey on the par-five ninth to leave himself well-placed on the leaderboard alongside compatriot Burmester, who had a single bogey to blemish his first-round card of 67.

Bourdy enjoyed a flawless round with five birdies, Kieffer picked up six shots while dropping one on the sixth, while four birdies on the back nine helped Jaidee climb the leaderboard.

Dylan Frittelli was the only player among the group on four under to complete his opening round, with Eduardo de la Riva, Bernd Wiesberger and Thorbjorn Olesen set to complete their remaining holes when play resumes on Friday.

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