Daniel Gavins overturns seven shot deficit to claim first Tour title in Ballymena
about 4 years in The Irish Times
England’s Daniel Gavins overturned a seven-shot deficit to claim his first European Tour title in the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Ballymena.
Gavins carded a bogey-free final round of 65 at Galgorm Castle to set the clubhouse target of 13 under par that no one was able to match.
Compatriot David Horsey held a share of the lead until losing a ball on the 18th following a wild tee shot, while New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier had been 13 under before dropping shots on the 16th and 17th.
“I can’t believe it,” Gavins told Sky Sports. “I was seven behind going into the final round. I’m speechless. I don’t really know what to say.
“I just tried to shoot as low as I could. Seven behind I didn’t really think I had a chance of winning so maybe there was a bit less pressure there.
“I’ve been playing well but I was going to have the week off because I knew there were a lot of Challenge Tour events coming up so I thought a week off maybe and then play the rest of the Challenge Tour.
“I just can’t believe it. I think it will take a while to sink in.”
Overnight leader Jordan Smith reached 17 under par with birdies on the second and fourth, but ran up a triple bogey on the sixth after attempting a risky recovery shot from the base of a tree but hitting a root before the ball and seeing it ricochet backwards into his own caddie and bag.
Final scores
British and Irish unless stated
267 Daniel Gavins 71 65 66 65
268 David Horsey 67 65 64 72
269 Daniel Hillier (Nzl) 67 62 70 70, Jordan Smith 62 68 65 74, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 65 69 66 69, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 66 68 68 67
270 Justin Harding (Rsa) 70 64 67 69, John Catlin (USA) 69 66 67 68, Darius van Driel (Ned) 70 65 65 70, Hugo Leon (Chi) 67 73 65 65
271 Vincent Norrman (Swe) 69 65 67 70, Oliver Farr 67 68 67 69, Dale Whitnell 67 69 68 67, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 67 69 68 67
272 David Law 67 69 67 69, Ashley Chesters 68 70 68 66, Garrick Porteous 68 64 71 69, Santiago Tarrio (Esp) 70 67 68 67
273 Matthias Schmid (Ger) 64 69 72 68, Dermot McElroy 72 66 68 67, Paul Peterson (USA) 69 69 66 69
274 Eddie Pepperell 66 67 73 68, Blake Windred (Aus) 69 70 64 71, Ignacio Elvira (Esp) 66 67 70 71, Jack Senior 68 66 72 68
275 Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 69 66 71, Tom McKibbin 67 69 69 70, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 68 70 68 69, Jordan Wrisdale 69 67 70 69
276 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 69 67 70, Marcus Armitage 71 67 68 70
277 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 68 68 72, David Drysdale 64 70 72 71, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 69 69 68 71, Connor Syme 72 66 68 71, Max Schmitt (Ger) 66 73 64 74, Ben Evans 70 66 70 71
278 Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 72 67 67 72
280 Richard McEvoy 68 69 67 76, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 69 66 71 74
282 Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 69 70 67 76
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