Scotland’s David Law wins maiden European Tour title on just his fifth start

David Law with womens winner Celine Boutier

The 27-year-old Scot trailed the long-time leader, home player Wade Ormsby, by three shots with three holes to play at 13th Beach Golf Club, Victoria.

But he followed a birdie at the 16th with a sensational eagle-3 at the last, hitting his second to around ten feet, to close with a six-under-par 66.

That put him in a share of the lead with Ormsby on 18-under-par before the Australian ran up a double-bogey at the 17th then could only make a birdie at the last.

Law’s victory, which earned him just under £140,000, came in just his fifth start on the circuit since stepping up as a Challenge Tour graduate this season.

“It’s massive,” he said. “It’s not something I expected. For me just being out here playing on the European Tour was enough.

“I’ve been loving the four events I’ve played so far and to just be a European Tour player was what I was happy with. To have won today, it sort of changes things a little bit. I’ll go home, reflect a little bit on things and reassess.”

The win, which came after two missed cuts in a row in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, lifted Law to 17th in this season’s Race to Dubai. He added: “We said we were going to try to finish 3-2-4 in the hope that we could get a top-three finish.

“Then birdie 16, par 17, and going down the last we said we need eagle. We make eagle, we post at 18-under, you never know what can happen.”

Law and his partner, Natasha, suffered tragedy off the course in 2017 when son Freddie was stillborn. He was on the brink of taking on other work over the winter before winning last season’s SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge at Macdonald Spey Valley in Aviemore.

That helped him finish 14th on the Challenge Tour and now he’s wasted little time making his mark on the European Tour, much to the delight of mentor Paul Lawrie.

He tweeted: “The work we do @paullawriefound is not to raise golfers to win on tour but when one of our kids does win on tour which happened today it’s an amazing feeling. Everyone at the Paul Lawrie Foundation are incredibly proud of David Law and we hope all juniors get inspiration from him.”

David Drysdale also finished in the top ten, closing with a 67 to claim a share of fifth spot on 15-under, six shots ahead of Grant Forrest (73).

In the women’s event, which was also played over the Beach course for equal prize-money, Celine Boutier carded a 72 to claim a two-shot victory. The Frenchwoman finished on eight under to hold off local favourites Sarah Kemp and Su Oh, as well as England’s Charlotte Thomas.

Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew finshed joint-40th on four-over.