| -22 T Clements (Eng); -21 M Wallace (Eng); -18 N Hojgaard (Den) |
| Selected: -17 B MacIntyre (Sco); -16 Y Paul (Ger) -15 V Perez (Fra); -14 A Fitzpatrick (Eng) |
World number 394 Todd Clements shot a stunning nine-under-par 63 to claim his first DP World Tour title at the Czech Masters near Prague.
The Englishman, 26, had three clusters of three successive birdies in a bogey-free round to win on 22 under.
Compatriot Matt Wallace missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the last as he signed for a 67 and 21-under-par total.
Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre strengthened his hold on a Ryder Cup spot with a 66 to finish joint fourth on 17 under.
MacIntyre clenched his fist after holing a 12-footer for birdie on the last, recognising its importance with next week’s European Masters in Switzerland being the final qualifying event for the European Ryder Cup team.
The left-hander holds the coveted third spot on the European points list, ahead of Germany’s Yannik Paul who finished a shot behind the Scot.
Three players qualify automatically from the European points List, and three from the world points list.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland have already confirmed their places in the 12-man team.
Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Sepp Straka are all in action at the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship on Sunday, and are chasing a spot via the world points list.
For those who do not qualify via the two points lists, Europe captain Luke Donald will select six wildcard picks on Monday, 4 September.
And Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard will have further impressed this week as he recorded four rounds in the 60s as he finished third at the Albatross Golf Club.
Clements hits round of his life
Before this week, Clements had not finished inside the top 20 in his rookie season but he carded four rounds in the 60s to complete what he called a “fairytale win”.
“It’s my birthday on Tuesday,” he said after watching Wallace fail to pick up the birdie he needed in his closing four holes to force a play-off.
“With the circumstances, that’s my best round of golf. We knew we needed a fast start and luckily I hit some nice shots that got me in the mix.”
Clements, who started the final round three shots behind joint leaders Wallace and Sami Valimaki, birdied his first three holes and then three more from the sixth to reach 19 under at the turn.
Three more birdies followed from the 11th as he surged into the lead. He missed a 20-footer for a 10th birdie on the last which would have seen him break the tournament scoring record.
But his 63 matched the lowest round of the week, also scored by Wallace who also missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 15th as his wait for a first win on the DP World Tour in five years continued.
