An incredibly tense and entertaining afternoon was capped off by a brilliant play-off as Van Phillips sealed the win with a beautiful approach to 18 inches to deny Da Silva a third win of the season and consign Archer to runner-up spot here for the third year in a row.
Archer had looked the favourite to seal a maiden Legends Tour title for much of the final round as he raced to -7 for his first 12 holes of the day to open up a two-shot advantage from Phillips with six holes to play.
Ahead of them on the course, Da Silva started the day five shots off the lead, and he flew through the field with a bogey-free 64. The MCB Road to Mauritius number one parred the 18th to set the clubhouse target at -12, but it looked like it would be at least one short when he signed his card.
Then the drama unfolded. Archer – playing in the penultimate group – slipped back from -15 after 14 holes with three late bogeys, including one at the final hole. Phillips bogeyed the 15th but a birdie at 17 meant a par at the last would be enough for the title – only for him to three-putt for bogey.
The trio headed back up the 18th for the sudden death play-off, and when all three players made pars on the first three attempts, play switched to the shorter par-4 10th. Da Silva and Archer again made pars, but a superb wedge to 18 inches and a simple tap-in birdie was enough for Phillips to claim the trophy.
“It’s amazing,” said the champion. “It’s been really tough the last couple of years – just grinding away with injuries. It’s just amazing to win and kind of validate all the hard work. It’s fantastic.
“I’ve been working on staying in the present – just staying really calm, staying in the moment. I felt like I achieved that all the way around until the 18th. And then I just hit a terrible putt from four feet. I haven’t been in this position for a long time, and yeah, I was just nervous.”
His approach on the fourth play-off hole was semi-blind, so he was delighted to see how close it was: “I was praying it was a kick-in, because I just couldn’t face another four-foot putt. Seventy-four yards is a great yardage for me. Just a three-quarter swing. So yeah, I just executed it. Perfect.”
Phillips jumps from 53rd to 19th on the MCB Road to Mauritius courtesy of the 825 points he earned for the win, while the runner-up finish increases Da Silva’s lead at the top of the season-long Order of Merit to 720.02 points ahead of Richard Green in 2nd and 787.56 points clear of Scott Hend, who finished tied-11th this week, in 3rd. Another near-miss for Archer after his closing 68 will be a bitter pill to swallow, but it continues a run of excellent form that has seen him climb to 16th on the MCB Road to Mauritius.
Miguel Angel Martin had a fantastic 66 to finish alone in 4th on -11, with Joakim Haeggman and Gary Orr a shot further back after rounds of 66 and 68 respectively. Jean-Francois Remesy recorded his best result of the season by finishing alone in 7th on -9, while Simon Griffiths, Mikael Lundberg and Jarmo Sandelin rounded out the top 10 on -8.
Overnight leader Patrik Sjöland had a nightmare start, finding water on the first two holes on the way to a pair of double bogeys. He ultimately signed for a 76 to fall into a tie for 19th. Visit www.legendstour.com to see the final leaderboard and updated MCB Road to Mauritius standings, and to find out more about the WINSTONgolf Senior Open at WINSTONgolf, Vorbeck, Germany.
