Alexandre Kaleka takes second place at the Credit Suisse Challenge
Frenchman Alexandre Kaleka lost to his compatriot Gary Stal on the first extra hole in the playoffs of the Credit Suisse Challenge, at Golf Sempachersee, on Sunday, July 15, 2012.
Kaleka started off his round two strokes behind the 54-hole leaders, Gary Stal, Andrea Perrino and Janne Mommo.
The lead increased to three strokes after he carded a bogey on the third hole of the day. Later on, he recovered it with a birdie on the seventh hole and never looked back afterwards.
The back nine of the course saw him make another three birdies to sit atop the leaderboard along with Stal and entered the sudden-death playoffs.
According to him, he lost in the playoffs because of the wayward tee shot that landed seven feet right to the fairway on the rough. He had troubles making an accurate shot to the green.
Yet, he managed to make a birdie chance, which he failed to convert in the end because of the downward slope. In the meantime, Stal made an amazing birdie putt to seal the victory.
"I didn't see the leaderboard coming down the stretch," said Kaleka, "I just wanted to birdie the 17th and 18th and I did so on the 17th but not the last hole".
"There are no regrets today though. I felt good in the play-off but my tee shot was in the rough, I pushed the eight-iron a little and it was a tough putt so I just tried to hole it because it was a play-off and you don't want to be short in a play-off".
Apart from his own performance, he also praised Stal’s class and style of playing. He said that Stal has the ability to strike well and he can win some more events in the current golf season.
"Gary hit a really nice putt at the end and there's nothing you can do about that,” he added. “He's a nice guy and he's a good player so I think he will probably win another time this year".
Perrino, the overnight leader, took the third spot with a one-over par 72. Harto and Mommo were in a share of the fourth place on the leaderboard.
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