Italy's Andrea Pavan won his first European Tour title at the D+D Real Czech Masters after coming out on top in a final-round duel with three-time major winner Padraig Harrington.
Pavan carded a closing 67 at Albatross Golf Resort in Prague to finish on 22 under par, two shots ahead of playing partner Harrington, with Malaysia's Gavin Green three strokes further back in third.
Congratulations @AndreaPavan89!
Winner of the D+D Real Czech Masters 🏆 pic.twitter.com/7Il23t4wbh
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 26, 2018
Harrington looked on course for a 16th European Tour win when he led by three shots at the turn and was still two clear with five to play but the 46-year-old bogeyed the 15th while Pavan reeled off three birdies in the space of four holes in a brilliant back nine of 31.
Pavan told Sky Sports: "I can't believe it to be honest. Coming down the back nine trailing Padraig since the beginning, he was playing really well and not making any mistakes and I just knew I needed to stay aggressive and it was amazing to finish this way.
"To birdie 16 and 17 was unreal. You know when you go against such a great player that you have to stay aggressive and that was my mentality today.
The final leaderboard:
🇮🇹 -22 @AndreaPavan89
🇮🇪 -20 @padraig_h
🇲🇾 -17 @gavingreen93
🏴 -15 @scottjamieson54
🏴 -15 @Slatts777All Scores: https://t.co/LUewHYC2Cd pic.twitter.com/FcoT02eo6p
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 26, 2018
"This week everything seemed to work - my driving has been a struggle for years and this year I found a new driver in Australia and it seemed to be working much better.
"Even if this week it wasn't key, the putting the first three days was unbelievable."
- PA
