Juan Manuel Lara finally cuts it right in Austrian Open
Juan Manuel Lara produced a fantastic final round of 64 to land the Austrian Open after beating David Lynn in a sudden-death play-off.
The Spaniard made a solid par in the first extra hole, whilst Lynn crumbled under the pressure, taking three shots to find the green before two-putting to leave Lara with a three-footer for the win, which he duly took.
It was only Lara’s second win on the European Tour - his maiden victory came four years ago in Hong Kong – and he had missed nine successive cuts already this season, which makes his late surge to the title even more surprising.
He started the day 11-under but carded a near perfect round, which included ten birdies that got him into the clubhouse leading with a score of 17-under.
"I was expecting something good. I was hitting the ball really well last week," Lara said.
"I wanted to win this tournament and the way I played today and this week, in my best dreams I never imagined that. Today I just came from behind and tried to work from the back and I did my job.
"It's a great time for me. All the guys supporting me, the Spaniards, I'm really happy now."
Englishman Lynn will look back on this tournament as one that he really should have seen out. Starting the day joint-top of the leaderboard with Danny Willett, he started nervously with bogeys at the first and third, but he regained his composure on the back nine to sink six birdies. He had a chance to win the tournament at the last with a birdie but a wayward second shot, meant he had to settle for a par and the momentum was always going to be with Lara in the play-off.
The 33-year-old Lara is now targeting a place at the end-of-season Dubai World Championship, although he will need to add to his €125,000 winner’s cheque to push towards the required top-60 finish to qualify for The Race to Dubai.
He added: "I've played the Volvo Masters [the forerunner to the Dubai World Championship] four times in my career, so I think Dubai's the next step.
"I saved my card today. I've been struggling in the last few years and I've missed too many cuts."
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