Volvo China Open: Brett Rumford wins two in a row on the European Tour
Brett Rumford became the 31st player in the history of the European Tour to win two consecutive tournaments, after he won the Ballantine’s Championship two weeks ago, followed by a victory in the Volvo China Open, on Sunday, April 5, 2013.
Rumford, who had to battle through the sudden-death playoffs against two of his competitors to win the Ballantine’s Championship, comfortable took the Volvo China Open title home, after taking a four-stroke lead, at the end of the final round.
Rumford’s fourth and the fifth European Tour victory has turned to be a great upturn for the Australian’s career, as he surged to the top of the Race to Dubai – he was ranked 138th in the European Tour money list, a fortnight ago.
Entering the final round, he was having a one-stroke lead over Miko Ilonen. Thereafter, he birdies six of the first 14 holes that he played, to move four past Ilonen on the leaderboard.
He then conceded bogeys on the 15th and the 17th hole, however, it did not hurt his cause, as he still managed to bag the title with ease.
Talking to the European Tour’s official website, he said that he himself was surprised to see his name at the top of the leaderboard, at the end of the tournament.
According to him, his strong putting technique greatly helped him post a decent score on the leaderboard, despite the fact that strong winds did not allow many players to post low scores throughout the week.
“As with last week I’m kind of speechless at the moment,” he said. “It’s quite surreal – it’s the first time I’ve actually played the week after a win so I’m more than pleased. It’s hard to get my head around it at the moment”.
“I managed to get up and down when I really needed to. There are some very tight lies round the perimeters of the greens, so it was tricky,” added the Australian. “My putter was also really on song, as it was last week. It puts a lot of pressure on your
opponent when you’re saving par all the time.”
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