The Infortar Estonian Challenge is over, a surprise victory for Scotland
Played for the first time in Estonia, at Estonian Golf & Country Club in Jõelähtme, the high-level golf tournament was won by tour debutant Rory Franssen.
The 27-year-old Scot won three events on his home Tartan Pro Tour last season, earning playing rights on the HotelPlanner Tour. His first 11 starts on the tour had brought little success. His best finish came in France in early July, where he tied for 50th. His total career earnings on the tour had amounted to just €4,000.
And then, in Estonia, a miracle happened. Franssen’s opening-round 3-under 69 did not suggest anything extraordinary was about to happen. Friday’s 67, however, was much more promising. Franssen began Saturday with back-to-back birdies, moved into the top three and was already sharing the lead midway through the day. By Saturday evening, Franssen was in second place, and even on Sunday he could not enjoy the outright lead for long, spending most of the day two shots behind leader Andrew Wilson.
In the second half of Sunday, Wilson was unable to hold on to the lead. Birdies on the 11th and 12th holes moved the Scot into a share of first place. A birdie on the 16th and an Englishman’s bogey on the following hole ultimately decided the tournament.
First place and €48,000 went to Franssen. Andrew Wilson finished second, while Germany’s Michael Hirmer and England’s David Horsey shared third, eventually finishing four shots behind the winner. Results
Franssen did not hide the fact in his post-tournament interview that he could hardly believe what had happened.
Three Estonians made history for Estonian golf at this tournament. Markus Varjun, who turned professional in mid-July, Kevin Christopher Jegers and Ralf Johan Kivi all made the cut at a professional tournament for the first time. As a result, they earned their first-ever OWGR points (their positions in the new world ranking will be confirmed on Monday), their first career prize money and, most importantly, valuable season points in the HPT series.
Although Saturday evening’s leaderboard suggested that the Estonians, particularly Varjun and Jegers, were within reach of a very high finish, with a top-10 result even being a possibility for Varjun, the fierce competition and challenging weather conditions, combined with the experience of playing at this level for the first time, ultimately brought expectations back down to earth.
Varjun finished the tournament at -7, sharing 31st place. This earned him 15.2 world ranking points and €2,550 in prize money.
Jegers and Kivi both finished at -2, sharing 57th place, earning €960 and 6.4 world ranking points each. Season Rankings
The HPT series continues next week with the Scottish Challenge, where Carl Hellat, Kevin Christopher Jegers and Markus Varjun will represent Estonia.
The series continues in August with events in Ireland, Finland and Sweden. In September, tournaments will be played in Poland, England and Portugal, followed by events in the UAE and China in October, before the HPT season-ending finale on the island of Mallorca.
The Infortar Estonian Challenge will return next year.
View photos: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 (Raul Mee)
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