Spain's Sebastian Garcia won with a 271 (67, 66, 71, 67, -17) after a playoff, and Filippo Celli finished 14th with a 277 (68, 66, 69, 74, -11) in the Hangzhou Open, the penultimate event of the season on the HotelPlanner Tour.
HotelPlanner, results
On the par-72 Hangzhou West Lake Golf Club course in Hangzhou, China, Garcia finished tied with Austria's Maximilian Steinlechner (71, 65, 66, 69) and Peru's Julian Perico (67, 67, 67, 70). He tied them with two late birdies (a total of 67, -5 with six birdies and a bogey), then overtook them on the second playoff hole with a par. Steinlechner bogeyed on the first hole, and Perico bogeyed on the second.
Garcia, a 36-year-old from Madrid, secured his first title on the circuit, a significant success as he rose from 21st to seventh in the rankings, securing, with one event remaining in the season, one of twenty DP World Tour berths that will be awarded to the top finishers after the upcoming Rolex Grand Final (Club de Golf Alcanada, Mallorca, Spain, October 30-November 2). The Spaniard was rewarded with a 68,242 prize pool of approximately 430,000 (the official prize amount is $500,000).
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In fourth place with a 272 (-16) are Sweden's Albin Bergstrom and Austria's Lukas Nemecz, who had started the last round at the top with Perico. In sixth place is Spain's Victor Pastor with a 274 (-14), and in seventh place with a 275 (-13) are Scotland's Calum Fyfe, Germany's Anton Albers, and the Frenchmen Flix Mory, Clement Charmasson, and Oihan Guillamoundeguy.
Celli, fifth after 54 holes, lost ground in the final round with a 74 (+2, one birdie, one bogey, and one double bogey). Stefano Mazzoli also dropped from 14th to 19th with a 278 (69 68 70 71, -10) after a 71 (-1, four birdies, three bogeys), and Renato Paratore, from 37th to 43rd with a 282 (70 68 73 71, -6), also scoring a 71 (-1, three birdies, two bogeys).
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Celli maintained his sixth-place ranking and will certainly have a chance, as will Paratore (fourth), who secured his spot with three wins this season and is already eligible to play on the major tour. In Spain, Mazzoli, 18th in the rankings and 56 points ahead of the 21st-place finisher, the first of those excluded after the Grand Final, will have to rely on all his strengths. His primary goal is to remain in the top 20, but he will also strive to gain positions to increase his chances of playing next year.
