Kingston beats Hansen in playoff
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship | Round Four | 14 Sep 2009
South African James Kingston has won his second European Tour event following a playoff victory over Denmark’s Anders Hansen at the Mercedes Benz Championship in Cologne.
Kingston, whose previous European Tour win came in December of 2007 at the South African Airways Open, has struggled for much of the 2009 season, his only other top ten coming interestingly enough in the BMW event in Germany in June.
In what developed into a tight battle between many of the tournaments heavyweights, it was the 140th world ranked Kingston who parred the first extra hole to win. Kingston came from one behind overnight leader Peter Hanson to fight off challenges from runner up Hansen and third placed Soren Hansen, Peter Hanson and the in-form Simon Dyson.
Kingston overcame a shaky start to the tournament when he tripled bogeyed his second hole on day one to record an opening round of 67 and remained in or near the lead from that point. A late bogey today threatened his chances of winning but the 43 year old held on then completed the job with a short par saving putt at the first extra hole.
Rod Pampling did best of the four Australasians in the field, recovering from a slow start in the event to finish 10th. Scott Strange went the other way after leading through 36 holes to eventually finish 23rd while Michael Campbell finished 76th and Mark Brown 77th in the 78 player field.
The European Tour now plays the Austrian Open in Vienna starting this Thursday.
