Ben Coley's 400/1 tip Jake McLeod landed backers a full place payout in the Czech Masters, but it was a frustrating finish as Gavin Green missed out on the title by a shot.
Green had been selected in our pre-tournament preview at 70/1 and was odds-on for much of the final round, having been blemish free and in the lead with five holes to play.
Disaster struck at the 14th as his tee-shot found water before the Malaysian missed a five-foot bogey putt to fall back into a share of the lead, and he was behind after Max Kieffer made a brilliant birdie at the 17th hole.
Playing the last one behind, Green fired his approach shot inside 10 feet only for his birdie putt to lip-out, handing Kieffer his first DP World Tour title.
🏌️♂️ The bad news: this lip-out cost our 70/1 tip Gavin Green a place in a play-off
— Sporting Life 🎯🔴🎾⛳️🥊🏏🏉 🏈 (@SportingLifeFC) August 21, 2022
💰 The good news: not only did he finish 2nd, but our 400/1 tip Jake McLeod landed the place money in sixthpic.twitter.com/NM3S7Xhnih
If it was harsh on Green backers then it was certainly no less than Kieffer deserved, having once lost a marathon nine-hole play-off in Spain and then again come off second best in Austria two summers ago.
Kieffer carded seven birdies in a final-round 66, six of them across the first 11 holes before a bogey at the 15th looked set to stop him in his tracks.
As Green came back to the field, however, the German hit a 220-yard approach to just six feet at the difficult 17th, holing the putt before a par at the last set a target Green could not reach.
What a shot 👏 Could this be the moment that sees @m4kieffer win his first DP World Tour title?
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 21, 2022
The German takes a one-shot lead to the 18th hole.#CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/WthnkbPso1
“It’s tough right now to say what it means,” said Kieffer, who was playing in his 249th event on the circuit. “It’s great, I’m lost for words a little bit.
“You’re thinking ‘I want to be ready in case he makes birdie’, you expect him to make birdie. You don’t want other people to miss putts but when the guy from the TV said you’ve won it the feeling was just ridiculous.
“I don’t know how I feel. I think I will need a few days.
“I just love to play golf and even if I had not won I still have a great life, I still enjoy playing golf, so now to win it’s even better.
“You’ve just got to keep trying. I had a few difficult years where I didn’t play well and then this year I feel like I am playing very well but still, deep down, you never know in golf. I’m so glad and I’m really going to enjoy it.”
Earlier, 400/1 shot McLeod had started eagle-birdie to leap from seventh to second, and a level-par back nine was enough to secure backers the place money despite bogeys at the 13th and 15th holes.
Ahead of him, last year's runner-up Tapio Pulkkanen finished in a share of third alongside Louis de Jager, with Zander Lombard fifth, and Kieffer's compatriot Marcel Schneider tied with McLeod in sixth place.
- Our next golf betting preview will be published on Monday evening
