Frenchman Adrien Mörk ended his history making week at the Tikida Hotels Agadir Moroccan Classic in victorious fashion to secure his first European Challenge Tour title. The 26 year old, who posted the first 59 in European, Challenge and Seniors Tour history on Friday, closed out his victory with a gutsy par on the Golf du Soleil’s notoriously tough par three 18th to secure a cheque for €20,800 and move from 144th to 15th place on the Challenge Tour Rankings.
It has been the kind of week that dreams are made of for Mörk, and, as he sank the winning putt on the 18th green, he even had the added bonus of a surprise visit from his girlfriend, who had flown in from France to share his moment of glory.
After opening of scores of 63-59, for a halfway total of 20 under par, Mörk had inadvertently brought a huge amount of pressure on himself to win the tournament.
Certainly no-one would have forgotten the man who shot 59 and then lost the tournamnet, but, to his great credit, Mörk stood up to a fierce onslaught from the chasing pack during his third round 74, and then continued to fight off his nearest challengers with a final round 69 for a final winning aggregate of 19 under par 265 after his final round 69.
As Mörk moved into the final stages of his last round, he held a one stroke lead over Welshman Mark Pilkington and fellow countryman Julien van Hauwe. He then bogeyed the 16th to fall back into a share of the lead but hit back immediately with a brilliant birdie on the 17th to get back into a one shot lead.
As he stood on the tee to the par three 18th, he watched Van Hauwe makes his par and then knew that he had to follow suit to take the title. His tee shot came to rest a good 30 feet from the hole, but he kept his calm to knock in the winning putt.
“The putt I had to win was just like the one I had for the 59, and again, I just made sure that I wasn’t going to miss it,” said Mörk.
“This is an amazing feeling, just an unbelievable week and I am delighted to have won on the Challenge Tour. It was just topped off by the fact that, as I sank the winning putt I looked up and the first person I saw was my girlfriend, who wasn’t meant to be here at all this week. That just made it perfect for me.
“Everything changes for me now. At the start of the week I was 144th on the Rankings and this win has taken me to 15th place and that is unbelievable as well. I now definitely have a good Challenge Tour category for the next year and that is a great relief because I had made a bad start to the season, but this makes things so much easier for me now.”
Pilkington and Van Hauwe shared second place on 18 under, with Colombia’s Jorge Benedetti and the Belgian, Nocolas Van Hootegem a further stroke back.
