Kevin Haefner of the USA secured his maiden European Challenge Tour victory at the Panama Masters, his final round 72 giving him a two shot victory over Englishman James Hepworth at the Summit Golf and Resort.
Haefner finished the tournament on eight under par 276, with Hepworth two shots back and two strokes ahead of Challenge Tour Number One Rafael Gomez of Argentina, his fellow countryman Sebastian Fernandez, and Scotland’s David Orr, who shared third place at this, the fifth joint-sanctioned event with the Tour de las Americas of the 2005 Challenge Tour season.
Having begun the day with a four shot lead, Haefner went to the turn during his final round in three over par and found himself sharing the lead with Hepworth and Orr – both of whom had piled the pressure on the 25 year old New Yorker by moving to three under for the day.
But the European Challenge faded somewhat on the back nine as Haefner made two crucial birdies on the way home to guarantee his first professional win and secure a Category One Membership of the Challenge Tour for the next 12 months.
Those birdies came at the 12th and 15th, and, after collecting his trophy and winners cheque for €15,457, Haefner underlined the importance of his gutsy back nine performance at the Summit Golf and Resort.
“The birdie on 15th was huge, because I had just missed one on 14th that I thought I made and I was a little disappointed,” explained Haefner. “I felt good over the putter and I hit a lot of really good golf shots on the back nine.
“I can’t describe how I am feeling right now. I didn’t play good on the front nine but I’ve been playing good all week, so I just stayed patient waiting for the good shots to come. I played really good on that back nine today, when I really had to and that was awesome!”
Hepworth, who last won on the Challenge Tour in 2003 at the Los Enicos Open, was pleased with his overall performance in Panama.
“I played really well today,” said the 28 year old Englishman. “I’m happy with my performance. I holed some crucial putts but probably needed a couple of birdies on those last three holes to get closer to Kevin.”
After five successful events in Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama (twice) and Peru, the series of joint-sanctioned events between the Challenge Tour and the Tour de las Americas and heads to Guatemala for the final Latin American event of 2005, the Abierto Telefonica Moviles de Guatemala at the Hacienda Nueva Country Club.
