CUMBRIA’S Gary Lockerbie shot a 65 – the best score of the final day – to propel himself into joint fourth place in the Celtic Manor Wales Open.

He finished on 278 just three shots behind the winner Jeppe Huldahl of Denmark who finished with a round of 67.

Another Scandinavian, Niclas Fasth fired 66 on the final round to finish as runner-up while Ignacio Garrido of Spain was a shot further back in third after a final round of 69.

Lockerbie of Penrith had been disappointed with his third round 74 but hit back in fine style on the final day. In fact he was the leader in the clubhouse, having set a target of six under par and for over an hour was pacing around trying to look cool.

He knew that in all likelihood it wouldn’t be good enough but at the same timehe didn’t want to entirely slip out of the zone just in case.

He was then joined on six under by fellow Englishman Danny Willett, but they needed three players to falter down the back stretch if theywere to have a hope and Messrs Huldahl, Fasth and Garruido held their games together to fill the top three places.

Still it was an enouraging performance from Lockerbie who picked up birdies on the 1st, ninth, 14th and 18th holes together with a superb eagle on the driveable par four 15th to rocket into contention.

Also on six under was Willett, who bogeyed three of his first four holes before launching an astonishing recovery around the turn.

Willett picked up four consecutive birdies between the eighth and 11th and picked up further shots on 13, 16 and 18 to close with a 67.

Huldahl’s performance was all the more remarkable considering he had never previously finished in the top ten on the circuit.

He becomes the ninth first-time winner on the 2009 European Tour schedule and follows Steen Tinning (2000), Simon Khan (2004) and Scott Strange (2008) as players to make The Celtic Manor Wales Open their first European Tour victory.

Birdies at three, eight, ten and 11 put him clear at the head of the leaderboard, and although Fasth briefly drew level on the back nine, Huldahl held his nerve to finish with seven straight pars.

---

Bookmark with: what are these?