The Welshman started the day two shots behind overnight leader Joakim Haeggman but he surged into the lead with five birdies on the front nine and never looked back as he sealed the title with a birdie on 18 for a -14 total.
It was only a third Legends Tour start for Dredge, who turned 50 on July 6th and finished tied-20th on his over-50s debut at the Senior Open Presented by Rolex in front of a home crowd at Royal Porthcawl, before a tied-19th at the JCB Championship.
He started well in the penultimate group with birdies on 2 and 3 and took control of the tournament with three red numbers on the bounce from the 7th. He opened up a five-shot lead with a birdie on 12, but it was cut to two as he made is only bogey of the day on 13 as Greig Hutcheon eagled 12 and birdied 13 in the final group. The Scotsman bogeyed 14 and Dredge maintained his advantage with a string of pars from 14 to 17.
Haeggman went out in one under par, but a double bogey at 10 derailed his progress. He birdied 15 and made a magnificent eagle at 17 to get back to -12. Hutcheon joined him there with a good up-and-down for birdie on 17, but they both had to hole their approaches on 18 to force a play-off after Dredge knocked it to four feet and holed the putt for a closing three. Neither threatened the hole, and both settled for par to finish tied-2nd behind Dredge.
“I’m delighted,” said the champion. “I played really well the first two round – tee to green I was really good, perhaps my wedge play could have been better, and I didn’t make any putts. So I spent a bit more time working on the putts this morning and trying to dial in the wedges and it paid off today.
“I was nice to birdie 18 and I was thinking that Greg could easily birdie 17, and could birdie the last. It was a big putt for me to hole to make birdie on the last because it meant Greg had to hole his approach shot, so I was pleased to close it out like that.”
Stephen Dodd, who won the 2005 WGC World Cup alongside Dredge, finished 4th on -10 after he closed with a 70. Emanuele Canonica and Greg Owen shared 5th place on -7 and tournament host Simon Khan was part of a four-way tie for 7th on -6, alongside Gary Marks, Jeev Milkha Singh and Jason Norris.
Visit www.legendstour.com to see the final leaderboard, the MCB Road to Mauritius standings, the full schedule and to find out more about the Legends Tour.
