Muscat: Aaron Leitmannstetter overcame a five-shot deficit to claim his first Mena Golf Tour win in the Ghala Open on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old German closed with a six-under 66 to reach 10-under for the tournament, one clear of joint overnight leader Ahmad Marjan of Morocco as Sweden’s Fredrik From finished solo third a further shot adrift.
Playing in the day’s sixth last group, Leitmannstetter reeled off seven birdies against a lone bogey to leave the field trailing in his wake as he became the first German to win on tour.
“It feels amazing to get the job done this time around after finishing second in this very tournament last year,” he said.
“It was quite windy out there, I thought 10-under would be a good target and luckily I managed to achieve that. I’m very happy with my performance.”
Marjan was left ruing shots that got away, especially on the 16th where he was sitting for an eagle, but three putted from 24 feet for par. A birdie on the closing hole could have forced a playoff, but he left it short from 15 feet.
“Yes, I had my chances, but couldn’t take them,” he said. “Overall I’m very pleased to finish second. It was a good week and I can take many positives from this event. Almost every part of my game fell into place, it’s just that I couldn’t get over the line which is a shame.”
Chile’s Matias Calderon and the English duo of Benjamin David and Todd Clements shared the leading amateur award after the trio finished on matching five-under 211s. Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Attieh carded a two-under 70 to take the honours in the Mena Division for amateurs, beating his closest rival by four shots.
Tied for 50th overnight on three over, Thomas Bosco Cwiok made the biggest move of the day, shooting a course record equalling 65 to catapult him to joint 15th.
