Ryan Fox winner of the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth after his 3&2 victory over Spain’s Adrian Otaegui in the six-hole final. Picture by GETTY IMAGES
KIWI Ryan Fox claimed a convincing 3&2 victory over Spain’s Adrian Otaegui to win his first European Tour title at the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth.
The New Zealander finished eight-under par after 54 holes of strokeplay in the innovative event at Lake Karrinyup Country Club, sealing a place inside the top eight.
That earned a bye into the second round of the six-hole knockout stage on Sunday.
He still had to come through 25 holes in the final round to get his hands on the trophy, going to the shoot-out hole three times to beat Thai Jazz Janewattananond.
Fox went on to claim one-hole triumphs over Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan and Ireland’s Paul Dunne – who were tied for second in the three-round strokeplay prize with Aussie Brad Kennedy.
The 32-year-old then jumped into a three-hole lead against Spaniard Otaegui in the final and victory was his when the fourth hole was halved in pars.
A beaming Fox said: “I just felt really calm. Adrian helped me out on a couple of holes, but I felt really in control of things out there.
“It was nice to hole a couple of putts that mattered and I guess that makes it feel easy in the end.
“I always enjoyed matchplay as an amateur. I had a pretty decent record playing for Auckland in the Inter-provincial, and I grew up playing team sports, so you just get used to trying to beat someone and I quite like that.
“It’s different than trying to beat the golf course.
Fox revealed the switch from strokeplay to matchplay overnight was not too great a challenge for his mindset.
He added: “I guess it’s nice having the added bonus if you hit a bad shot, you’re only losing a hole.
“Although losing a hole in a six-hole match is a little harder than an 18-hole match. It’s a little bit of a freer format.
“I think the event’s been a success here the last few years, crowds are fantastic, and I’m sure that the concept will work in other places in the world.”
His opponent Otaegui, who has already won the Paul Lawrie Matchplay in 2017 and last year’s Belgian Knockout as part of the European Tour’s experiments with different formats over the last couple of years.
The Spaniard said: “Obviously I’m a little bit disappointed after losing the final, but it’s been a good week
“Second is a solid week. What I felt is that I went from low to up during the week, so that’s good as well. That’s a good feeling.
“It was a good day all day today. Played very good golf the first four games, just nothing went the way I wanted in the end, but still happy.
“I just try to give myself some birdie chances, which I did. I putted well.
“My short game was good as well. I just tried to go hole by hole doing my job, which I did well the first four games.”
Fox’s victory in his 79th European Tour event makes him the first winner from New Zealand since Danny Lee won the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic as an amateur.
In the battle for third, Dunne was two-up after two against Scott Vincent before the Zimbabwean won the fifth and sixth to take the match to the shoot-out hole.
Vincent then put his tee-shot into the grandstand for a bogey, with Dunne hitting the pin and sealing third place.
Swedish rookie Per Longfors, the surprise winner of the three-round strokeplay event was beaten 2&1 by Otaegui in the second round of the knockout.
