McLeary victorious at KPMG Trophy
Scotland’s Jamie McLeary captured his second Challenge Tour title six years with victory at the KPMG Trophy in Belgium.
The 34 year old carding a final round five-under par 67 to take the title by one stroke ahead of Dutchman Taco Remkes.
“I’m as happy as Larry,” said McLeary. “I was actually more nervous at the start than at the finish.
“I hit a poor tee shot off the second and I got lucky.
“Normally when I’m nervous I don’t drive the ball well, and that happened today.
“I three-putted the 14th to put myself back into the pack a bit, but apart from that I played well.
“When you’re leading you want to get off to a good start. The worst thing is when you make a couple of early bogeys. So I was glad to start well.
“My short game was a lot better than it was yesterday, so that was where I made the score.
“I knew there were a lot of people close, and three shots can go in one hole if you make a mistake. I tried not to look at the leaderboards, and once I was three under through four I knew I’d given myself a bit of a cushion.”
Remkes spent the second half of last season recovering from back surgery provided a stern test for McLeary, ultimately falling just short in the closing holes.
“I’ve had a back injury since 2010 and after surgery last year I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to play golf again, so I’m very happy that I am and this is a very good result all things considered.
“Fair play to Jamie, he’s played really well this week and deserves to win.
“I’m pretty happy as finishing in the top ten gets me into Saint-Omer next week.”
After losing his European Tour card, McLeary is looking to return to Europe’s premier golfing series with this confidence boosting win.
“This gets the monkey off my back as I’ve earned a sizeable chunk – it takes the pressure off a bit,” he said.
“I’ll be able to go into the lucrative events at the end of the season able to relax a bit.
“I’ll go to the Rolex Trophy now, which is one of my favourite events, and the Grand Final and all the China events. I’m very happy.”
Full leaderboard details can be found here.
