Andres Romero stormed to his first European Tour victory in ten years at the BMW International Open courtesy of a back nine birdie blitz, as the Argentinian sealed the title in breath-taking fashion with a birdie at the last to beat Richard Bland, Thomas Detry and Sergio Garcia by a single shot.
It was a tense and thrilling finale at Golfclub München Eichenried as all four players shared the lead with just three holes to play.
Romero’s round had caught fire as he followed up his first birdie at the eighth with another at the ninth, then picking up three in a row from the 13th hole before the other challengers began to stumble. Detry missed a crucial birdie opportunity to force the issue at the last, making a par five after his second shot ended up among the revellers in the hospitality lounge.
Masters champion Garcia was left to rue a mishit putt from three feet as he bogeyed the 16th, while his English playing partner in the final group dropped a shot at the par three 17th.
After Romero had signed for a seven under 65 to set the target at 17 under, Garcia and Bland both required an eagle at the last to take it to extra holes.
Bland’s eagle putt from 12 feet slipped by while Garcia missed the green with his second and they both signed for a birdie at the last and a pair of 69s, handing Romero – playing on an invite in his first appearance on the continent this season – a second European Tour title.
Player quotes:
Andres Romero
“I’m really happy, after ten years without winning on the European Tour, and especially here in Germany. It’s so nice that my caddie is here as he is also my friend, and I want to thank my family, my manager, my brothers and sisters.
“I haven’t been in that position for a long time, so it felt a little funny, but only on that 18th hole, because I was playing great golf.
“And then I was looking at the leaderboard and I saw that the other guys missed the green on 17, but I didn’t want to look at that. I was a little nervous.
“I’m very happy that I’m going to be here on the European Tour again. I enjoy it here and I want to say thanks to the people at BMW because if it wasn’t for them – they gave me an invite for this event – I wouldn’t have any category now, and this is going to be life-changing.”
Sergio Garcia
“It was a good week and I obviously fell just short. I felt like I played well enough to win for sure. Obviously there were a couple of missed putts here and there today, and some really good putts that didn’t want to go in.
“So it was difficult to get anything going. And then, unfortunately that chip on 18 looked pretty good but it just missed on the right side.
“You have to give credit to Andres. With no status, he’s neither here on the European Tour or the PGA Tour – to go out and shoot 65 today, I’m happy for him and we’ll just keep trying.
“Any time you have a chance of winning, there’s a lot of good things. I think that there were a lot of good ones there. I’ve just got to keep working hard and keep putting myself in these kind of situations.”
Richard Bland
“I’m pretty gutted, but I gave it a good run. I just got caught in between clubs on 17, and it was the only shot I didn’t commit to all day. And even the poor shots that I hit today, I was committed to them, and that was the only one I just didn’t commit to.
“So I’m proud of the two shots I hit on the last and I just didn’t quite hole the putts, but I’ll come back next week and try it again.
“The form that I’ve been showing the last three or four months, if someone offered me second place or a putt to make a playoff on 18, I’d probably snap their hand off.
“It’s a big step forward for me this week, and I’ve just got to make sure that I keep making steps forward and finish the year strong.”
Thomas Detry
“You always have that little bit of a sour feeling in yourself when you finish just short. But overall, I’m super happy with the way I played.
“It’s my first top two ever on the European Tour, and it’s fantastic. I couldn’t be happier and I’m very excited for the weeks ahead. My game is feeling great, and who knows, maybe in the next few weeks I can win.
“I was not really nervous but I was kind of in between clubs and tried to fit in a shot, and the wind was coming off the right.
“You know there are the stands on the left and the water on the right, so you always prefer on the left and you know you have an easy chip for the flag. I dropped it from the hospitality. I didn’t have the best lie, and did my best to try and make a four.”
Scores:
271 A Romero (Arg) 67 71 68 65,
272 T Detry (Bel) 65 71 70 66, S Garcia (Esp) 66 70 67 69, R Bland (Eng) 67 69 67 69,
274 R Karlberg (Swe) 67 69 72 66,
275 R Paratore (Ita) 70 70 67 68, T Fleetwood (Eng) 67 71 70 67,
276 N Elvira (Esp) 72 70 68 66, H Otto (RSA) 68 69 70 69,
277 D Lipsky (USA) 71 69 67 70, H Stenson (Swe) 67 69 72 69,
278 S Henry (Sco) 69 72 66 71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 67 74 68 69,
279 P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 71 68 69, D Frittelli (RSA) 72 71 66 70, J Luiten (Ned) 66 73 69 71, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 71 68 70, J Lagergren (Swe) 69 66 69 75, G Coetzee (RSA) 69 70 70 70,
280 T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 69 69 71 71, B Wiesberger (Aut) 70 68 74 68, J Campillo (Esp) 74 69 66 71, N Fasth (Swe) 68 69 71 72, J Van Zyl (RSA) 70 72 67 71, A Chesters (Eng) 71 71 69 69,
281 E De La Riva (Esp) 70 68 72 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71 67 72, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 69 74 71 67, R Fox (Nzl) 68 75 68 70, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 69 74 67 71,
282 R Langasque (Fra) 71 71 68 72, B Stone (RSA) 72 71 66 73, A Wall (Eng) 71 72 66 73,
283 V Dubuisson (Fra) 72 69 72 70, A Björk (Swe) 71 71 69 72, N Bertasio (Ita) 70 72 68 73, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 73 68 73, B Rumford (Aus) 68 73 67 75, S Kapur (Ind) 67 72 72 72, J Morrison (Eng) 67 74 72 70, T Olesen (Den) 66 74 71 72, R Sterne (RSA) 71 72 67 73, J Fahrbring (Swe) 72 67 70 74,
284 J Winther (Den) 69 72 69 74, W Ormsby (Aus) 64 74 73 73, P Lawrie (Sco) 73 67 70 74, G Havret (Fra) 70 72 71 71, P Hanson (Swe) 69 73 73 69, J Smith (Eng) 70 69 72 73, T Lewis (Eng) 71 71 68 74,
285 J Stalter (Fra) 67 68 74 76, M Foster (Eng) 69 72 73 71, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 71 71 73, J Rutherford (Eng) 69 71 73 72, M Southgate (Eng) 67 70 78 70, F Fritsch (Ger) 69 73 72 71, R Wattel (Fra) 73 70 70 72, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 73 69 73,
286 D Im (USA) 67 76 72 71, L Bjerregaard (Den) 70 72 68 76, P Widegren (Swe) 69 69 74 74, E Els (RSA) 71 71 71 73, P Maddy (Eng) 69 73 71 73, J Ahlers (RSA) 67 73 73 73, R McEvoy (Eng) 69 72 71 74, M Schmitt (am) (Ger) 74 67 70 75,
287 G Storm (Eng) 71 69 72 75, J Carlsson (Swe) 72 70 73 72, Z Lombard (RSA) 74 69 71 73, M Kramer (Ger) 70 70 73 74, D Brooks (Eng) 70 72 73 72, F Zanotti (Par) 68 75 72 72,
288 E Molinari (Ita) 72 70 71 75, S Heisele (Ger) 70 73 68 77,
289 M Korhonen (Fin) 70 73 72 74, R Green (Aus) 69 71 75 74, D Horsey (Eng) 71 72 69 77,
295 S Crocker (am) (USA) 69 74 71 81,
216 J Kruger (RSA) 73 70 73 0, L Canter (Eng) 73 70 73 0, O Fisher (Eng) 72 71 73 0,
217 J Quesne (Fra) 75 68 74 0, D Burmester (RSA) 72 70 75 0, M Kieffer (Ger) 72 70 75 0,
220 J Scrivener (Aus) 71 72 77 0,
