Frittelli holds nerve to win maiden European title

South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli joined the band of first-time European Tour winners after calming the nerves to win the Lyoness Open on Sunday, writes WADE PRETORIUS.

Like Erik Van Rooyen and Dean Burmester earlier in the season, Frittelli now has a European Tour win to his name after a drama-filled Sunday at the Diamond Country Club.

Heading into Sunday two behind Chile’s Felipe Aguilar, who blew out with a 75, Frittelli moved swiftly to the top of the pile with three birdies in his opening four holes. A closing birdie on 9 saw him turn in 32 and walking confidently down each of the fairways he hit.

Another birdie at 11 saw him stretch his lead. Finland’s Mikko Korhonen then briefly joined him at the top, before ultimately faltering away.

For Frittelli it was a day going exactly according to plan until he missed the green on 13. Left with a devilishly hard chip, the 27-year-old got up and down to save par.

And that’s when things turned … A wayward tee shot on the 14th meant that his six-footer was to save bogey as he dropped into a four-way share of the lead, with among others, Jbe Kruger. Kruger’s Sunday went into overdrive after he eagled the 12 to move into contention. He birdied 15 and 16 to take the lead, but a bogey on 18, where he found the greenside bunker and two-putted, saw him forced to settle for a Sunday 67 and a share of second place.

Frittelli’s nerves began to show as he missed the 15th fairway off the tee before finding a horrible lie short of the green, which meant he had little to no chance of getting up and down for a birdie. In fact, his lengthy downhill putt could’ve turned out far worse, but he judged the pace to perfection as he safely negotiated his par.

Needing a good solid drive, like he’d done all week, he found the fairway on sixteen and hit his second almost pin high. A wonderful chip shot almost found the hole, but a birdie helped Frittelli to the top of the leaderboard once again and gave him a timely confidence boost.

A roar from the University of Texas man on the 17th meant he headed to the par 3 18th with a one-shot advantage. Find the green and two-putt for a maiden title was the scenario, and that’s exactly what he did on what turned out to be the perfect Sunday.

Frittelli’s winning scorecard: