Casey Jarvis took his maiden professional title on Sunday as he held on to win the Challenge Tour’s Euram Bank Open at GC Adamstal in Ramsau, Austria by one stroke after he closed with a one-under-par 69.
It was a nervy final round for the 19-year-old South African as he made a double-bogey on the fourth hole, backed it up with a bogey on the fifth, and then dropped another shot on the 13th. But he got the job done with five birdies, and edged out the charge of Scotland’s Euan Walker who raced home with a six-under-par 64.
In the end, Jarvis reached 18-under for the tournament, and other than the challenge from Walker, he had left his nearest challengers way behind with rounds of 65-63-65. Third-placed Julian Suri of the United States was five strokes behind Jarvis, and Robin Roussel of France in fourth was on 12-under.
Jarvis had made just three bogeys – one in each of the rounds – up to the fourth hole in the final round, and he’d made an early birdie on the third to show that he was going to be tough to catch. But he made double on the fourth and, with Walker making birdie, the chase suddenly looked a likely prospect.
Although the bogey which on five for Jarvis was unsettling, Walker was having a run of seven successive pars. During that time, Jarvis made two birdies to re-establish his dominance. Then Jarvis dropped on 13, while Walker made two successive birdies on 12 and 13. When Walker eagled 15, while Jarvis made birdie, the cat was well and truly among the pigeons. But the Scotsman bogeyed the 16th, which gave Jarvis the breathing room to par his way home.
Walker got within one with a birdie on 17, but it was a bridge too far for him, and Jarvis headed to the top of the table on the Road to Mallorca, the season-long points race on the Challenge Tour on which the top 20 players at the end of the season earn promotion to the DP World Tour.
Behind Jarvis, Dylan Naidoo closed with a level-par 70 to finish on seven-under in a share of 19th, and Brandon Stone was in a share of 25th on six-under after his fourth round of two-under-par 68. Luke Jerling was on four-under in a share of 34th after his 69, and Keenan Davidse’s final 69 took him to three-under and a share of 41st. JJ Senekal battled to a five-over 75 and finished in a share of 64th on three-over.
