The Debrief: Oman Open

Everything you need to know about this week's Oman Open.

Sami Välimäki won his first European Tour title as he defeated South African Brandon Stone in a play-off to lift the trophy at the 2020 Oman Open.

The duo halved the 18th in pars twice at Al Mouj Golf but when Stone sent his second shot crashing into the stand on the third trip and failed to get up and down, a par was enough to hand Välimäki victory in just his sixth European Tour event.

Here, we take a look at some of the highlights from an entertaining 2020 Oman Open.

Välimäki secures first win

Sam Välimäki sealed his first European Tour title after holding off Brandon Stone in a play-off on the Oman coast. The Finn was outside the top 100 after day one at Al Mouj Golf but a stunning 64 in round three put him alongside Stone in a six way tie for the leadwith 18 holes to play. Both Stone and Välimäki had held the lead on their own during the final day but it was Frenchman Adrien Saddier who set the clubhouse target at 12 under. Stone celebrated wildly as he holed a 20 footer on the last to get to 13 under but there was more drama to come as Välimäki holed from similar range for his own closing gain and a round of 70 to take the contest to extra holes. They could not be separated after two attempts down the 18th, but a par was enough to hand Välimäki victory at the third time of asking when Stone could not get up and down following an erratic second shot. "It's awesome," Välimäki said. "There are not many words to say, it's unbelievable. After the ninth hole when I made a double I knew that the tenth hole is good and I had to make a birdie on that. I didn't make a really good par on 11 and after that bogey I felt like, 'okay this is gone'. But then I just grinded, made three birdies and on the last, an awesome birdie."

Stone feels at home in Oman

Stone finished sixth in the Challenge Tour Grand Final at Al Mouj Golf in 2015 as he graduated onto the European Tour and he has had an affinity with the place ever since. He may have missed the cut at the inaugural 2018 Oman Open and fallen out of contention with an 80 on Saturday last year but his love for the spectacular coastal layout is undimmed as he came within one putt of claiming victory in Muscat. "I’m always going to have a soft spot for this golf course," he said. "This is where I earned my playing rights from the Challenge Tour so I have some history here and I played nicely here last year too. I love the course - it’s in my top five in the world, if I’m being honest, and every year coming back is an absolute pleasure."

Otaegui's road trip to Oman

It's rare that a golfer gets to drive to an event rather than fly so Dubai based Adrian Otaegui jumped at the chance to take a road trip to neighbouring Oman. Pity he went to the wrong border crossing. "I was in Dubai all three weeks from Saudi to here and I was driving anyway with a friend who I played with in the pro-am." he said. "(Caddie) Ian joined us as well and it was a good drive. We chose the wrong border first of all. We had to go to the border at Hatta and we went to Kalba first because someone told us we had to go there but because it was a company car, we couldn't cross there so we had to go to the other border. Apart from that the drive was fine. We drove on Sunday, it was like five hours, the drive was good, we had good company but just chose the wrong border." The Spaniard opened with a four under 68 at Al Mouj Golf before finishing for a tie for 30th.

Meditation helps Saddier finish strong in Oman

Adrien Saddier believes meditation helped him fight back from a nightmare start as he finished just one shot out of a play-off at the Oman Open. Saddier's Qualifying School exemption category meant he had not played on the European Tour since the start of January but he has been working hard and was delighted to see his work pay off in Muscat. He said: "It was tough out there today and starting bogey bogey didn’t help. The wind was really blowing really hard towards the end of the day. I made some nice birdies but unfortunately fell just one short. Overall a great week, though. I started to meditate a few months ago and that helped me come back to the present after the bogey bogey start. There was still 16 holes to play so I just needed to play my game and not rush anything. The par saves are just as important as the birdies on a course like this. I checked the scoreboard on the ninth and saw that nobody had gone really low so I just tried to stick to the plan and hit it as close as possible to give myself opportunities. I’ve had a long break because of my status on the European Tour so I missed out on the Desert Swing. I’ve been working really hard on my game and my physical wellbeing and was really ready to play in Oman this week."

Gagli finishes turbulent week in top ten

Lorenzo Gagli was happy just to play in Oman, having only been cleared to tee it up at Al Mouj Golf on Thursday morning after his test results for Coronavirus (Covid-19) came back negative. Gagli had entered self-isolation on Wednesday as a precaution after exhibiting flu-like symptoms. His roommate Edoardo Molinari also went into self-isolation in a separate room as a further precaution. The Omani Ministry of Health subsequently cleared both players to leave self-isolation and participate in the tournament at 12.15pm after the negative result. Due to the exceptional circumstances, they were reinstated as an addition to the field in Muscat and teed off as a two-ball at 1.30pm. He said after his second round 70, which moved him into contention: “It was a strange situation but I would like to thank all the European Tour staff, including Keith Pelley, Tournament Director Miguel Vidaor and my friend Paolo de le Feld from Player Relations, as well as the Ministry of Health in Oman, who have done an unbelievable job because I’m playing the tournament now. It was a strange situation but I’m really happy to be out on the course and playing golf. After the test came back negative and I found out I could play, when I was on the golf course I felt really relaxed, which helped me a lot. Playing with Edoardo helped too because we are really good friends." The Italian finished tenth for his best result of the season so far.

Pitch perfect from Kaymer

A hole-in-one is a rare feat in a golfing career so when you get one, it'd be nice to see it. Martin Kaymer did not have that luxury when he holed a pitching wedge from 162 yards on the 13th on Saturday but luckily he had a spotter in Li Haotong who gave him the good news, prompting a big celebration. "It was a good number in terms of clubs, I thought if I can throw the pitching wedge down in that collection area you can create a good birdie chance," he said. "I hit a good pitching wedge straight at the flag but I didn't see it going in, I just saw the two guys celebrating behind the green. It was a very nice feeling." Kaymer's ace was the second of his career, the first ever at this event and the fifth of the 2020 Race to Dubai. Here it is.