Garrick Porteous sealed a dominant victory at the inaugural Prague Golf Challenge, winning by five shots to claim a maiden European Challenge Tour title.
The Englishman carried a four-shot lead into the final round and his five under par 67 took him to 24 under par at Prague City Golf, with Julien Guerrier, Christopher Mivis and Bradley Neil in a share of second place.
Having not made a Challenge Tour cut all season, this is a transformative result for the 27 year old, long rated as a hot prospect since winning the Amateur Championship four years ago, as he moves up to 16th place on the Road to Oman.
At the turn the lead had been cut, with Guerrier pulling within two strokes, but once again Porteous proved too good on the back nine, which he played in a cumulative 19 under par this week.
“I’m buzzing, it’s great,” he said. “I got off to a comfortable start with three pars and then managed to chip in on four for eagle, which got me going, and it was similar to yesterday.
“Once I hit the back nine I was comfortable, it was business as usual really – it’s probably my favourite nine holes I’ve ever played, playing them as well as I did!
“You get off to a hot start – the tenth is reachable in two, so is 13, and I hit my wedges really well this week, put a lot to inside ten feet, and that gives you the opportunity to make a lot of putts.
“This result gets my season going because I didn’t have much up in terms of points, and I’m really excited – it was there but it just needed to be all put together and that’s what’s happened this week.
“It’s nice to get over the line and win by a comfortable margin, and top 15 is definitely the goal now – at the start of the year the aim was to get into the Rolex Trophy and push on from there, so now I’ve got to try to back that up.”
Guerrier’s result moves him into third spot in the Rankings, with Mivis and Neil – Porteous’ playing partners – each securing the best result of their careers on 19 under par.
One shot further back were Ricardo Santos and Steven Brown, who took his third top five finish in four weeks, with both men moving inside the Road to Oman top 15 – who will earn European Tour graduation at the end of the season.
Marcel Schneider was seventh on 17 under par while one shot behind him Aaron Rai, Robin Sciot-Siegrist and Toby Tree – who earlier this week qualified for The Open Championship – completed the top ten.
Final scores:
264 G Porteous (Eng) 66 67 64 67,
269 B Neil (Sco) 66 69 66 68, C Mivis (Bel) 69 67 65 68, J Guerrier (Fra) 65 68 70 66,
270 R Santos (Por) 66 68 72 64, S Brown (Eng) 65 69 69 67,
271 M Schneider (Ger) 69 72 64 66,
272 A Rai (Eng) 70 70 65 67, T Tree (Eng) 68 67 70 67, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 66 69 67 70,
273 L Gagli (Ita) 68 71 67 67, R Saxton (Ned) 69 70 70 64, M Wiegele (Aut) 68 69 68 68, J Hansen (Den) 66 69 68 70, D Papadatos (Aus) 69 70 69 65,
274 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 68 70 67, P Oriol (Esp) 66 70 73 65, M Iten (Sui) 71 69 68 66,
275 G Kocken (Swe) 69 69 72 65, N Cullen (Aus) 68 71 68 68,
276 J Lando Casanova (Fra) 68 67 70 71, N Ravano (Ita) 72 69 67 68, S Tiley (Eng) 66 69 73 68, C Sharvin (Nir) 72 67 68 69, B Easton (RSA) 65 69 72 70, J Harrison (Eng) 67 68 76 65,
277 E Dubois (Fra) 71 67 74 65, A Meronk (Pol) 73 63 73 68, J Suri (USA) 71 68 66 72, C Koepka (USA) 71 69 69 68, S Einhaus (Ger) 71 70 70 66, R Enoch (Wal) 65 67 77 68,
278 C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 69 72 71 66, D Fox (Aus) 68 69 71 70, J Parry (Eng) 70 67 71 70, J Dantorp (Swe) 68 70 73 67, R Hjelm (Den) 69 71 70 68, J Sarasti (Esp) 68 70 71 69, K Johannessen (Nor) 70 68 69 71, P Howard (Eng) 69 66 72 71,
279 E España (Fra) 69 72 69 69, O Lindell (Fin) 68 67 72 72, T Linard (Fra) 67 71 78 63, M Schwab (Aut) 69 69 74 67,
280 S Soderberg (Swe) 67 72 74 67, J Arnoy (Nor) 69 71 76 64, M Delpodio (Ita) 69 69 73 69, S Connor (Eng) 71 69 70 70, J Senior (Eng) 68 73 71 68,
281 S Jeppesen (Swe) 71 70 72 68, L Galliano (Sui) 68 73 71 69, A Tadini (Ita) 71 70 72 68, O Rozner (Fra) 68 70 73 70,
282 F Maccario (Ita) 73 68 72 69, D Huizing (Ned) 71 69 71 71, B Hellgren (Swe) 69 72 70 71, A Saddier (Fra) 71 69 73 69, P Valasek (Svk) 66 71 77 68, R Van Der Spuy (RSA) 64 72 72 74, D Van Driel (Ned) 71 67 73 71, S Surry (Eng) 70 71 71 70, S Hutsby (Eng) 67 72 72 71,
283 B Hafthorsson (Isl) 69 67 72 75, J Pastor (Esp) 69 72 68 74, H Joannes (Bel) 69 72 72 70, S Fernandez (Esp) 70 71 75 67,
285 T Ferrer (Esp) 70 69 75 71, H Casey (Eng) 72 69 72 72,
287 G King (Eng) 71 69 72 75, L Johnson (Eng) 69 67 73 78,
288 C Braeunig (Ger) 74 67 75 72,
289 A Maestroni (Ita) 71 68 78 72
