Date: June 03, 2013
Author:

Grant Report – Gaunt wins, Dodt aces twice in a day

He may have been overshadowed by Adam Scott’s Masters victory but Victorian Daniel Gaunt also raised a winners trophy recently when he captured Belgium’s Telenet Trophy on the European Challenge Tour.

Taking the title in a play-off, Gaunt’s secured his second win on the Challenge circuit after a hard-fought tussle with Dutch player Will Besseling.

Besseling scorched home in the final round with a six under par 65 but Gaunt made an 11th hour birdie four at the 18th to force extra holes.

Playing the 18th again in the play-off, Gaunt sealed his win with a superb pitch from the rough with his third shot and was left with a tap-in putt for birdie and victory.

It was a remarkable turnaround of form for the 34-year-old who had made just one cut in nine previous appearances this year.

“I’m a bit emotional at the moment to be honest,” Gaunt told Europeantour.com.

“After how difficult the last two years have been for me it’s massive to get a win under my belt.”

Gaunt is the sixth Australian to win on the world stage this year following Wade Ormsby and Scott Hend (Asian Tour), Adam Scott (PGA TOUR), Matt Griffin (OneAsia) and Brett Rumford (twice on the European Tour).

Meanwhile, Queenslander Andrew Dodt achieved a unique feat on the European Tour golf when he became the first player to ever record two holes in one in the same round.

Dodt, playing in the second round of the Nordea Masters at Bro Hof Slott GC just north of Stockholm, began his round at the 10th hole and aced the 11th with a six iron.

Three hours later he holed an eight iron at the par three seventh hole, the 16th of his round.

The aces took Dodt’s total holes-in-one to nine and proved vital in making the cut.

The tournament was won by Finn Mikko Ilonen by three shots while Dodt eventually finished in a share of 44th place.

Dodt is playing on limited status on the European Tour this season having finished 118th on the Road to Dubai rankings in 2012.

He has missed seven of 11 cuts this season with a 17th place finish in Abu Dhabi in his opening event of the season being his only top 40 finish.

Meanwhile, Australian star Karrie Webb has captured her 39th LPGA title.

The veteran LPGA Hall of Famer took out the ShopRight Classic in Galloway, New Jersey by two shots from  overnight leader Shanshan Feng.

Webb, who started the final round five shots off the lead, handled the tough windy conditions better than her rivals and holed a series of clutch putts.

The win gives the Queenslander a serious boast in confidence heading into the second major of the year, Wegmans LPGA Championship which gets underway this week.

By: Robert Grant