Rhys Davies wins Trophée Hassan II

Rhys Davies of Wales fired a fantastic final round of 66 to win the Trophée Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam by two shots from South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen.

Rhys Davies

Rhys Davies of Wales fired a fantastic final round of 66 to win the Trophée Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam by two shots from South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen.

Oosthuizen took a two shot lead into the final round and the advantage was extended to three when Davies made a bogey four at the short second. But the dropped shot galvanised the Welshman into action and he made an incredible eight birdies over the next 12 holes.

Displaying a wonderful putting touch, the 24-year-old from Bridgend put the pressure squarely on the South African and took the lead with a three at the par-4 11th. But Oosthuizen, the odds-on favourite going into the final round, struck back with an eagle three at the 12th to return to the top of the leaderboard.

Davies was relentless, however, and he birdied the next two holes to reclaim the lead. He parred his way in from there and that was good enough for the rookie to secure his maiden European Tour victory.

I'm a little bit lost at the moment - this is all completely surreal to me," he said. "It's all a bit of a blur. I just kept focusing on hitting the ball as close to the flag as I could and holing every putt and I nearly did just about that."

It was a disappointing end for Oosthuizen who might have played his way into the World's top-50 and secured an invitation to The Masters had he won. "It just wasn't happening for me at all with the irons. I didn't put the ball close enough to the pin in order to give myself chances."

From fairly early in Sunday's proceedings it was clear the tournament was to be a two-horse race though the battle for third was a closely fought one.

Thomas Levet looked to have it sewn up, needing just a par on the final hole to take third spot on his own. But the Frenchman's third missed the green and he failed to get up and down. It dropped him back into a tie with Ignacio Garrido, Thomas Aiken and Mikko Ilonen who made two eagles in his final round of 66.

Trophée Hassan II Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Morroco Mar 18-21, purse €1,375,000, par 73

1    Rhys Davies (Wal)    68    64    68    66    266    €229,160 2    Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)    70    64    64    70    268    €152,770 T3    Thomas Levet (Fra)    69    65    68    71    273    €65,313 T3    Ignacio Garrido (Esp)    67    67    69    70    273    €65,313 T3    Mikko Ilonen (Fin)    71    69    67    66    273    €65,313 T3    Thomas Aiken (RSA)    67    68    67    71    273    €65,313 T7    Christian Nilsson (Swe)    71    68    70    66    275    €35,475 T7    Robert Rock (Eng)    71    67    67    70    275    €35,475 T7    Danny Willett (Eng)    73    67    64    71    275    €35,475 T10    Peter Lawrie (Ire)        66    70    73    67    276    €25,483 T10    Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66    70    70    70    276    €25,483 T10    Gareth Maybin (NIR)    72    69    66    69    276    €25,483

Note: Player scores in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?