20 under par! First tournament victory for Paul O’Hara

The professional from Scotland plays three brilliant rounds in the Fürst Fugger Privatbank Classic at Golf Club Am Habsberg, secures his first victory on the EPD Tour and advances in the ranking list to 7th place. The two Englishmen Ben Parker and Grant Jackson, ranked 2nd and 3rd, help to make the tournament a fantastic success for the players from Great Britain. Dennis Küpper from Krefeld (Germany) and Dutchman Jurrian van der Vaart share 4th place.

By Matthias Lettenbichler

Velburg-Unterwiesenacker – So much for rain specialists from Great Britain: at the end of the Fürst Fugger Privatbank Classic, tournament premiere on the EPD Tour 2010, two Englishmen and a Scotsman prove to be particularly strong in tropical temperatures. Paul O‘Hara, 23 year-old tour rookie from Motherwell, Scotland (photos above and to the right), prevailed on the par 72 course with fantastic rounds of 66, 63 and 67 strokes at Golf Club Am Habsberg, sewed up the tournament with a score of 20 under par and celebrated his first victory as a professional.

“I remained concentrated and putted well – I could have done even better.” He took the lead in the field with five birdies and two eagles, and never relinquished leadership.

Sizzling battle at Habsberg

With temperatures beyond the 35 degree mark, O’Hara provided a sizzling battle in the final group with Englishmen Ben Parker (67, 63, 69) and Grant Jackson (63, 69, 69), whose successful end he booked for himself. The winner, who improved from 16th place to 7th place on the EPD Tour Order of Merit, garnered 4,814 euros in prize money. Parker collected 2,784 euros and advanced to 3rd place. Grant Jackson (1,624 euros) is the new number 2 (in the photo below, the winning trio is sown shaking hands on the 18th green). Still at the top of the ranking list: Max Kramer from Frankfurt (Germany), who finished the Fürst Fugger Privatbank Classic in 11th place.

Dry fairways, excellent greens: the conditions for low scores could not have been any better at the Fürst Fugger Privatbank Classic. The banking house with six locations in Germany (www.fuggerbank.de) supported a EPD Tour tournament for the first time as title sponsor and brought a new event onto the calendar – even if the venue is well-known: as early as 2006 the EPD Tour visited Golf Club Am Habsberg. On the second day, Martin Kaymer played a round of 59, the lowest score ever garnered by a German in a professional tournament.

Paul O’Hara also laid the cornerstone for victory. In the end he won with a 3-stroke lead and successfully kept Ben Parker (photo on the right) and Grant Jackson at bay. “I feel more and more comfortable on the EPD Tour”, he said after his first major tournament victors. He recently indicated his good form at the Danfoss Masters with a third place finish.

Paul O’Hara thus explains the fact that among the four satellite tours he chose the EPD Tour of all things as a springboard for the Challenge Tour, and not, for instance, the domestic PGA EuroPro Tour: “I also have to travel a lot on the Challenge Tour and face international competition. I can prepare myself excellently for this on the EPD Tour – better than on any other tour.” His older brother Steven, who also plays on the European Tour, had advised participation in the EPD Tour. Paul O’Hara would like to “continue to remain concentrated and win” so that both can soon jet off together from tournament to tournament – of course, preferably next week at the Pfaffing Classic 2010.

Habsberg: Paul Ohara führt mit 15 unter Par

Habsberg (mat) – Golf auf hohem Niveau bei der Fürst Fugger Privatbank Classic: Die Spieler der EPD Tour überzeugten auch am zweiten Tag des EPD-Tour-Turniers im Golf Club Am Habsberg bei Nürnberg und zeigten hervorragende sportliche Leistungen. Sowohl dem Schotten Paul Ohara (Foto oben) als auch Ben Parker aus England gelang am Dienstag eine 63er Runde. Der Cut lag bei Par – 44 Spieler erreichten die Finalrunde.

Ohara führt das Feld nun mit 15 unter Par an (66+63), Parker rangiert einen Schlag dahinter auf Platz 2 (67+63). Rang 3 teilen sich derzeit der Engländer Grant Jackson, der in Runde 1 eine 63 gespielt hatte (63+69) und Jurrian van der Vaart (67+65) aus den Niederlanden. Bester Deutscher: Maximilian Glauert auf Rang 6 (71+64).

Die Finalrunde des Turniers beginnt am Mittwoch um 7:30 Uhr, die Führenden schlagen um 8:40 Uhr ab.

RC Deutschland GmbH nutzt Plattform der EPD Tour

Erwin Langer, neuer Geschäftsführer der RC Deutschland GmbH, nutzte den  Rahmen der Fürst Fugger Privatbank Classic zur Lobby-Arbeit für die deutsche Ryder Cup Bewerbung. Vor der Runde traf er sich mit dem Sprecher der Geschäftsleitung der Fürst Fugger Privatbank, Henning von  der Forst, seinem Stellvertreter Dr. Martin Fritz sowie dem Präsidenten des ausrichtenden Golfclubs, Peter H. Maier, zum Gedankenaustausch.

Seit April engagiert sich die RC Deutschland GmbH als Partner der EPD Tour. Die Kooperation umfasst einen werblichen Auftritt der RC Deutschland GmbH bei den jeweiligen Austragungsstätten der Turniere, außerdem  wird  den Spielern und Zuschauern die Bekenner-Mitgliedschaft im Golfclub RC 2018 nahegebracht.