Englishman Graeme Storm won a titanic battle with his fellow countryman Mathew King at the Northop Golf and Country Club to secure his maiden professional victory at the European Challenge Tour’s Ryder Cup Wales Challenge with a stunning 26 under par 262 total.
The English duo – playing together alongside Sweden’s Mikael Lundberg in the last group of the day – produced a great fight for the Ryder Cup Wales Challenge Trophy. King struck the first blow with a birdie on the first, but Storm was soon fighting back – birdieing the fourth and then conjuring an eagle-birdie double through the 8th and 9th to take a two shot lead.
King responded by picking up a shot at the 12th, and then watched Storm bogey the 13th to bring the players level on 25 under with five holes to play. As the pressure mounted on both players, Storm whipped up another definitive double – birdieing the 15th and 16th which, coupled with King’s dropped shot on the 16th, handed him three shot lead with two holes to play.
That was enough to bring the 1999 British Amateur Champion his first professional victory, a win that Storm himself said “means everything to me”.
It also means he moves to seventh place on the Challenge Tour Rankings – his €20,000 winner’s cheque boosting his 2004 earnings to €34,310 and putting him in a fantastic position to reach for the top and secure a place on the 2005 European Tour International Schedule as one of the top 15 Challenge Tour graduates.
"This win means everything to me, I’m delighted,” said Storm after collecting the Ryder Cup Wales Challenge 2004 trophy. “I feel like I have finally got the monkey off my back in terms of winning my first event as a professional. After winning the British Amateur there was just so much expectation on me, but it feels good to have won a four round professional event at this level.
“You have to believe in yourself to be able to do that and thankfully I was able to do that and finish off the job today.I think the turning point for the round came in and around the turn when I went eagle-birdie on the eighth and ninth and then Matt had chances on the tenth and 11th but didn’t chip and putt which was crucial because it gave me a two shot lead.
“Then I hit a lady on the leg to stay in bounds on the 12th which gave me a good feeling because I did that in the Walker Cup in 1999. I was playing the 15th and I hit a spectator on the back to stay in bounds which kept me in the game at the time and got me to my half on the 18th which won us the Walker Cup!
“But these things go for you and against you week in, week out and you just have to put it down to fate and get on with it, which is what I did.”
King’s final 23 under total ensured him the second prize of €13,750 that takes him to 37th on the Rankings, while England’s Lee Slattery and Scotland’s Marc Warren shared third place on 20 under par.
