| The Austrian Open wasn't the only event to see a -20 take the winner's trophy this weekend. |
| Wednesday, 23 September 2009 | |
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Italian Challenge Tour
rising star and long-time Yes! Man Edoardo Molinari achieved his 4th
season win at the Kazakhstan Open by three strokes, not only claiming the
winner’s trophy but also setting a new record for Challenge Tour earnings
in a single season.
The Challenge Tour #1 takes home the €64,000
winner’s cheque – the biggest payday of his career – to take
his season’s earnings to €188,079, some €43,961 more than England’s
David Horsey accumulated last year (Horsey being another Yes! Putter golfer).
With four Challenge Tour events still remaining this year Molinari has virtually built an unassailable lead in the Rankings, and he can now start to plan in earnest for a successful year’s campaign on The European Tour next season, alongside younger brother Francesco. The first round in Almaty was halted because of rain, but the interruption failed to dent the Italian’s concentration as he returned the following day to score two birdies in his closing 3 holes, and to follow that up with 7 birdies in round two. At the end of day 2, the Yes! Man from Turin said, “I played very well today, and finally holed some putts. I’ve been putting well for the past two or three weeks, and today was better still. It was probably my best round of the year, in the circumstances.” Round three saw him deliver a further six birdies in a terrific round of 66 and by now he was feeling pretty much un-catchable. His -20 finishing score was brought about by rounds of 67, 67, 66 and 68. There are only three Challenge Tour players to have won twice this season; two of them are currently Yes! Men – Edoardo Molinari and Robert Coles. Molinari favours a Donna Putter, (the popular blade / mallet hybrid launched in 2008) with a 200g shaft weight and jumbo grip. He works regularly with Yes! Golf and Harold Swash Putting School Director of Instruction Phil Kenyon, and has a particular feeling for tempo and rhythm. Rob Coles, meanwhile, is putting exceptionally well with the Variable Shaft-weighting System introduced by Yes! Golf at Golf Europe in Munich last October. And in Austria…
Dutch Yes! Man Joost Luiten made his first cut since returning to the game in May after wrist surgery which saw him out of action for almost a year. He finished T17th with a second best final round of 7 under par. Luiten too was using a shaft weighted Yes! C-Groove putter.
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