Dhe victory of Marcus Armitage at the European Open in Winsen an der Luhe not only touched the 33-year-old Englishman. When the golfer from Huddersfield told his life story in the victory interview on Monday afternoon, he kept fighting back tears: “I lost my mother when I was 13 years old. I’ve dreamed of winning ever since, ”said Armitage.
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This dream finally came true on Monday, thanks to a brilliant final round of 65 strokes, by far the best of the day on the North Course of the Green Eagle Golf Courses. Armitage won with a total of 208 strokes (8 under par) two strokes ahead of his compatriot Matthew Southgate, the Belgian Thomas Detry, the Italian Eduardo Molinari and the Dutch Darius van Driel, all of whom took a total of 210 strokes.
The defending champion Paul Casey landed in sixth place (211 strokes) and was one of the favorites as 21st in the world rankings. The 43-year-old Englishman was the only one of the few big names to survive the cut in this tournament. The Mexican Abraham Ancer, 17th in the pecking order, like his German teammate Martin Kaymer, failed prematurely.
Late career turnaround
This cleared the way for professionals who have been chasing a victory in the European premier league in vain for many years. Armitage, only ranked 190th in the world rankings, started out in eleventh 55 minutes before the final duo and after his brilliant final round had to worry for a long time whether it would be enough for his very first victory on the European Tour. Because Southgate had come close to him except for one stroke, but then the extremely difficult place claimed another victim.
The Englishman describes himself as one of the best drivers in the world, although he only appears in the ranking at 269th place. But at the last hole, of all places, he pulled his tee shot to the left into one of the many water hazards on this extremely long course, where, however, several tees had been moved forward on the final day. Southgate received a bogey, a bitter end on his 177th winless appearance on the European Tour.
For Armitage, on the other hand, this victory, endowed with 179,600 euros, is the late turning point in a career that is characterized by constant ups and downs. In 2017 he qualified for the European Tour for the first time, but immediately lost his eligibility to play and returned to the Challenge Tour. It was only through the European Tour Q School that he was promoted to the top division again at the end of 2020.
His English trainer Robert Rock, who also plays actively on the tour, lent him the money for the flight to South Africa. It was worth it: Armitage achieved his best result to date with third place at the South African Open. A fourth place at the Austrian Open and an eighth place last week in Denmark indicated that the gum-chewing professional can play at the very top – at least when the best Europeans are not at the start.
Unfortunately, that cannot be said of the German professionals at the moment. In Winsen, the best German, 31-year-old Marcel Schneider, took seventh place. The Swabian from Bietigheim-Bissingen switched to the professional camp in 2012 after a glamorous amateur career. With the Australian Amateur Championship he had won the third most important tournament and climbed to sixth place in the amateur world rankings. But only now does he seem to be on the way to finally secure his job on the European Tour. With seventh place, the 382nd in the world rankings in the Race to Dubai, the European money list, climbed to 118th place. This means that he is only three places away from a position in the top 115, which would secure him full eligibility to play on the European Tour for the next season.
In addition to Schneider, there was also a German winner: the Nord Course, at 7167 meters the longest and hardest course in Germany. “It was like being with a major,” said Casey, describing the course with the many water hazards and the high rough on the edge of the fairway. On the first day, when the wind made the game even more difficult, Casey found the course more difficult than the one on Kiawah Island, where he had finished fourth in the PGA Championship. “Still, the place is fair,” said Casey, “but any failure here can have dire consequences.”
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