German Max Kieffer played a confident final round of 66 to claim his maiden DP World Tour win in the D+D Real Czech Masters at the Albatross Golf Resort in Prague.
After a rain-affected Saturday led to the tournament being played over three rounds and 54 holes, the 32-year-old began his final round four shots behind leader Gavin Green. However, Kieffer didn’t take long to begin eating into the Malaysian’s lead. He birdied the first hole, and followed up that encouraging start with further birdies on the fourth and seventh before a run of three in succession between the ninth and 11th brought him firmly into contention.
Kieffer’s challenge wobbled at the 15th, where he missed a 10ft putt for par and had to settle for bogey. However, he made amends with yet another birdie on the 17th following a fantastic approach shot that left him a six-foot putt. A par completed his round to finish on 16-under – one shot ahead of Green.
With Kieffer back in the clubhouse, he will have been confident his maiden DP World Tour victory was within his grasp. However, Green, whose 63 on Friday was a joint record low score, had other ideas. Despite suffering a more subdued final round that included a double-bogey at the 14th, a fantastic approach shot over the water at the 18th left him with an eight-foot birdie attempt to force a playoff.
That surely would have been Kieffer’s worst nightmare. In 2013, he lost a sudden-death playoff in the Open de Espana after nine holes – the joint longest in European Tour history. Then, last year, he missed out again, this time in the Austrian Golf Open after a five-hole playoff that included hitting three balls into the water on the final playoff hole. However, his fears proved unfounded, but not before Green’s birdie attempt went round the cup and agonisingly stayed out to hand Kieffer the win.
Kieffer was understandably delighted and relieved to claim his first DP World Tour win. He said: “I am lost for words a little bit. When the guy from the TV said: ‘You’ve won it’, the feeling was just ridiculous and now I don’t know how I feel. I think it will need a few days."
Kieffer also admitted that nerves almost got the better of him on the final hole. He said: “On 18 the nerves kicked in hard. The tee shot I was thinking for a second: ‘Well, I might not make contact here with the ball, but I pulled off a great shot.’”
The victory earns Kieffer prize money of €291,660.
