Jeev, who started the day way back in tied 16th spot, registered a bogey-free five-under 67 and moved into clubhouse lead. Then he waited for nine more groups to finish and found himself in a play-off with Francesco Molinari. "This is an amazing win. I waited for more than an hour, maybe longer to see if I was getting into a play-off. (Marc) Warren was playing well and then Molinari, too. I felt I had an outside chance of being in a play-off and after I finished lunch, there it was all of a sudden. I am glad I could pull it off," said Jeev soon after the win.
"I knew I was playing well," he said earlier after his regulation play. "I have been having good rounds but not good tournaments. To have a good tournament you need to put together four good rounds and this week I did that," said Jeev.
The win was Jeev's fourth in a European Tour event. His earlier wins were Volvo China in 2006, Volvo Masters of Europe in 2006 and the Austrian Open in 2008. In the first play-off hole, Jeev birdied from 15 feet, while the Italian missed from 25 feet to give the Indian his first win since 2008 and with it a berth in the Open.
On a tough day for scoring, Jeev had a stunning start with four birdies in first six holes. He became five-under on 10th, but then had eight pars in a row, including a birdie miss on 18th. A little earlier, another Indian golfer SSP Chowrasia carded 72 in the final round to finish tied 11th, his best finish since the 2010 win at the Avantha Masters.
PTI