Having come so close to securing his maiden European Tour victory in 2014, having lost in a playoff to Englishman Daniel Brooks, Scott Henry was keen to go one better this time around as the European Tour returned to Madeira and the Club de Golf do Santo da Serra.
Scott’s opening round of 66 (-6) was a strong start for the Scotsman and saw him in a tie for 5th place, three shots off the lead. A disappointing second round of 70 saw Scott move to eight under par still three shots off the lead after finishing with a double bogey and two bogeys in his last six holes.
However it was the weekend that saw a resurgence from Scott. A magnificent 65 followed by a Sunday 66 normally would expect to win a tournament however this was no normal weekend on the European Tour. Roope Kakko, Scott’s final round playing partner had one of the best weekends of his career. Coming from the relative obscurity of mid field on Friday afternoon Roope was 17 under par for the weekend and leap frogged the whole field to take the spoils in Madeira.
The final round started in dramatic fashion as Scott birdied the first three holes to jump into the lead by two, however a string of unanswered birdies by Roope on the 5th, 6th and 7th, he was soon pegged back and a bogey at 9 meant Scott was now two behind going into the back nine. The lead was doubled as Roope holed his approach to the par 4 10th hole before Scott eagled the par 5 11th, the battle was hotting up. Despite his best efforts though two more birdies on the closing stretch was good enough for Roope to lift the trophy despite a closing birdie from Scott which only saw him climb to within three of the winner.
The final result was bittersweet for Scott who had once again come so close, however solace can be taken in the fact that the tournament was won and he did not lose it. Besides the €66,600 cheque for second place Scott also moves up to 7th on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit and into the top 15 who automatically gain their full European Tour playing privileges for the following season; all in all on reflection a very good weekend for the Glaswegian.
Congratulations to Scott from Champions of Golf and all of his sponsors including Luke Sport, Callaway, Titleist, Footjoy, Craig Group and Aberdeen Asset Management.