McGowan wins first Czech Challenge at Kaskáda
Another great result on the Challenge Tour was achieved by Stanislav Matuš, who took the 14th place at the 8th D + D REAL Czech Challenge with a score of -8. Englishman Ross McGowan rejoiced in his victory at Brno’s Kaskáda, playing ten shots better.
Matus entered the final round tied for twentieth place and in the morning, he was afraid he wouldn’t even be able to start from his 7:50 tee. He was suffering from a sudden onset of back pain, and was still in the hands of a physiotherapist twenty minutes before the start of the round.
“My neck injury returned and I didn’t know if I would even be able to tee off. When it hits me, it’s really bad. Fortunately, there is a good physiotherapist here, so he put me together, some pills helped me on the other nine, and so I survived it and I’m very grateful for the result,” said Matuš beaming with happiness.
Though he entered the final round losing a shot at number two, it turned out to be his only bogey of the day. After that, he just recorded pars and four birdies on holes 3, 9, 10 and 11.
“Play-wise it was very good. I was very limited on the first nine, but I finished it with a minus one. Sometimes I dropped the clubs, I couldn’t finish my swing, because of how unwell I felt. It is a shame, I regret that it had to come today, when I was off to a good start and was playing well here. But that’s life, so I have to take it as it is, and I fought to the end,” added Matuš.
The Czech pro scored the best place on the Challenge Tour in the season and the third best in his career, finishing 8th last year in the Bridgestone Challenge in England and tenth in the Prague Golf Challenge in Zbraslav.
On the other hand, the best Czech Filip Mrůzek had hoped for a better placing at Kaskáda before the weekend, who even lost two shots after the Saturday’s round at par. Mainly due to double bogey on eighteen.
“It was a dud game today, there’s nothing else you can say about it. I played a par eight on my front nine, and then a double bogey, on the eighteenth, which I then played on intentionally – I didn’t want to play a five iron from 190 meters on the green,” he said, assessing the first half of his round.
Pole Adrian Meronk wound up third.
In the second, he wasn’t lucky enough for putts: “I had four birdies on the first nine and it ended up on the edge four times and I was tapping them in from five centimeters. I had great opportunities, but the shots just didn’t drop in for me.”
The final round was also played by home player Petr Gál, who needed 73 shots and tied for 64th place with a total score of +6. Michal Pospíšil ended up worse by one shot and four places, leaving the tournament with a 75 (+4) round.
Ross McGowan of England became tournament champion, winning after rounds of 66, 66, 66 and 68 rounds, scoring -18, four shots ahead of Portugal’s Ricardo Santos. Pole Adrian Meronk came in third.
