A majestic course record round of 62 wasn’t quite enough for Rhys Davies to win the Celtic Manor Wales Open.
Davies blazed a trail through the leaderboard to finish 12-under but was beaten into second place by Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell who finished 15-under.
The result is a consecutive runners-up spot for thee 25-year-old from Tredegar, having finished second at last week’s Madrid Masters. It was Davies’ sixth top-ten finish this season.
Davies was bidding to become the first home winner of the Welsh tournament and carded six birdies and two eagles in his course-record.
He received tremendous support by the home crowd but in the end left himself too much work as McDowell carded a 63 to win the title.
After two mediocre rounds on Friday and Saturday Davies knew he needed a low score to be in contention. He began slowly with three pars but burst into life with two birdies on the 461-yard par-four fourth and the 433-yard par-four fifth. Both times he created birdie chances with two excellent approach shots.
He completed the opening nine by picking up four shots and moving to the top of the leadboard. Attacking the pin on the 213-yard par-three seventh he made his putt for a birdie before remarkably chipping in for eagle on the 439-yard par-four eighth. Another birdie on the 580-yard par-five ninth put Davies right in contention at the turn.
He continued to pick up shots with a two at the par-three tenth and two excellent woods for a birdie four on the 562-yard par-five 11th.
His round threatened to come off the rails though when he sent his tee-shot on the 485-yard par-four 14th into the water but he recovered well, getting up and down with an accurate wedge to save par.
Having played conservative round the dog-leg 15th in the previous three rounds, Davies tried to drive the green at the 337-yard par-four. He struck a wonderful tee-shot and holed the eagle putt.
But his adventure on the 15th was undone on the 499-yard par-four 16th when he sent his approach into a greenside bunker. He failed to get up and down and dropped back to 12-under.
He created birdie chances on the par-three 17th and the par-five 18th but missed putts cost him the chance to put McDowell under real pressure and the Ulsterman beat Davies to the title by three strokes.
By Alex Winter, at the Celtic Manor Resort
