Haydn Porteous fights back to win second European Tour title
12:25 PM ET
- PA Sport
South Africa's Haydn Porteous overturned a two-shot deficit in the final round to win his second European Tour title in the Czech Masters.
Porteous carded a closing 69 at Albatross Golf Resort to finish 13 under par and two shots clear of England's Lee Slattery, with Tom Lewis and Sweden's Pontus Widegren a shot further back.
Slattery's overnight lead was quickly wiped as Porteous, 23, birdied the first two holes and after dropping a shot on the fourth and also birdied the seventh and ninth to move back in front.
Both men bogeyed the par-five 10th and Porteous also dropped another shot on the 11th, allowing Slattery to regain the lead with just his second birdie of the day on the 13th.
However, Porteous immediately hit back to birdie the next and produced a moment of real quality when it mattered the most, firing a superb tee shot to within two feet of the pin on the dangerous 16th.
Slattery had dropped a shot on the 15th after finding a bunker off the tee, but also birdied the 16th to keep up the pressure before making a bogey on the last after pulling his approach left of the green.
Porteous won the Joburg Open in January 2016, but a missed cut in last year's Czech Masters was the first of 14 early exits in 16 events, prompting a return to his former coach.
"It's been a really torrid time through the last eight, nine months," Porteous told Sky Sports. "I've really started doing the right things and slowly but surely the golf's got a little bit better and to get my second European Tour win under the belt feels amazing.
"When you start playing on the European Tour you start to lose yourself, you lose how you got out here in the first place. To then find yourself again is key and I can't thank my sponsors enough for helping me through thick and thin.
"I'm sure this evening's not going to be the most professional moment of my life, but there's nothing wrong with having a bit of a celebration!"
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