German victory on the Challenge Tour
The German Marc Hammer at the Mannheim-Viernheim Golf Club wins his first Challenge Tour tournament. With a two-stroke advantage, the 23-year-old took the win in Austria, for which Freddy Schott also fought.
German victory on the Challenge Tour
It’s only his sixth appearance on the Challenge Tour, his fourth this year. But after a missed cut, a top 50 and a top 25 placement, Marc Hammer can call himself the Challenge Tour winner. Crucial was his outstanding performance over the weekend, where he outperformed the rest of the field with two laps of 66. Starting into the final from 7th place, he suffered two bogeys in the top nine – he didn’t shoot through a round this week. But with three stroke wins he made up the first places. With birdies on the 13th and 15th he secured a narrow lead, but by no means a certain victory, because the pursuers were not far away, including his compatriot Freddy Schott. With a final birdie, Hammer got into the clubhouse two strokes ahead and was able to catch his breath when Schott bogeyed back on the 16. Neither Schott nor other competitors were able to catch up to him and celebrate hammer.
Freddy Schott has been in top form for weeks, just not good enough to win. Two fourth places, a shared fifth place and T16 is his record of the last four weeks, and now there is a shared third place in Austria. He went into the final round as the leader, but with three early bogeys his chances of winning quickly looked bad. Two birdies at hole 8 and hole 14 gave hope for a comeback, but the strokes won were lost again a short time later.
With Velten Meyer, Allen John and Philipp Mejow, three other German players can be found in the top 30. All three closed out the tournament with solid final rounds. The amateur Leon Breimer, who until now has only been seen occasionally on the Pro Golf Tour, makes it into the weekend on his first Challenge Tour appearance with two excellent first rounds, but there he lost his strength and after a 79 final round he ended up at T60 .