Campillo triumph means Drysdale’s unfortunate record continues
Qatar Masters report: What happened at Education City GC?
Jorge Campillo denied David Drysdale a first European Tour victory after beating the Scot in a five-hole play-off for his second title.
The pair could not be separated in 72 holes as they both finished on 13-under before heading back to the 18th tee for the first of four extra holes.
Drysdale found the fairway with an almost identical tee shot to that of his regular attempt while Campillo left his ball in the right fairway bunker.
A stunning approach from Drysdale followed and his opponent also found the putting but left a long putt for birdie. Campillo holed his lengthy effort to pile the pressure onto his 44-year-old opponent who also rolled it in for his birdie.
Campillo 🆚 Drysdale
Golf of the highest quality in the playoff as both players birdie the 18th – twice!#QatarMasters pic.twitter.com/MwuqOHu3kH
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 8, 2020
The second play-off hole saw Drysdale take virtually the exact same route to a birdie but again Campillo kept his chances alive after holing another long birdie putt.
Drysdale’s remarkably consistent driving continued on the third and fourth play-off holes with all four of his tee shots finishing within 13 yards of each other.
Pars on the third and fourth saw a European Tour play-off go into a fifth hole for the first time since the BMW International Open and that was where Campillo finally got the job done.
Campillo 🆚 Drysdale
Still tied after 4 playoff holes!#QatarMasters pic.twitter.com/k31ineiaxH
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 8, 2020
Having learned from his missed putt to win on the previous hole he put in another perfect stroke to clinch the win with a long birdie putt moving from left to right.
Playoff victory for @jcampillogolf 🏆#QatarMasters pic.twitter.com/zx8qVbs9Bd
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 8, 2020
There could and perhaps should have been no need for a play-off at all had Campillo not collapsed coming down the stretch surrendering a three-shot lead.
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The Spaniard bogeyed the 16th and double-bogeyed the 17th to sign for a final round of 1-over which meant Drysdale’s final round of level was good enough for extra holes.
Jeff Winther was another key player on Sunday and despite holding the early lead he also crumbled on the back nine to finish in third place.
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Qatar Masters leaderboard
-13 Jorge Campillo, David Drysdale*
-12 Niklas Lemke, Kalle Samooja, Jeff Winther
-11 Alexander Bjork
-10 Nino Bertasio, George Coetzee, Marcus Kinhult, Chris Paisley, Pablo Larrazabal
*Campillo wins in a play-off
Full leaderboard (external site)
Qatar Masters report: Talking points
After 25 years as a professional David Drysdale came closer than ever to securing a European Tour title but his agonising wait goes on.
On his 498th start David Drysdale had this putt for his first European Tour victory…#QatarMasters pic.twitter.com/SFk7o8sbMZ
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 8, 2020
The Scot turned professional in 1995 and was making his 498th start on Europe’s main tour and holds the unfortunate record of the most starts without a win.
His last tournament victory of any kind came some 14 years ago on the Challenge Tour when he won the Peugeot Challenge in 2006.
Despite earning more than $5 million and making 283 cuts, the elusive win has always evaded him.
Most Tour starts without a win:
497 – David Drysdale 487 – Ross Drummond 453 – Richard Bland 410 – Brian Marchbank 391 – Bill Longmuir#QatarMasters pic.twitter.com/mpGaEv828p— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 7, 2020
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
