(Courtesy of Studio Dimitris Andritsos Photography)]
His playing partner in the final group, the PGA of Austria’s Georg Schultes, worked hard for a closing one-over 72 on The Dunes Course, and, after holing a clutch 20-foot putt on the 17 th hole to save par, joined Gustafsson on six-under to force a sudden death playoff.
The pair halved the first three playoff attempts on the 18th of The Dunes, but the fourth proved to be the decider as Schultes made a par five but Gustafsson made a birdie having knocked his approach shot to just two feet.
“I feel great – although it took a little bit longer than I had expected [with the playoff]!” said Gustafsson. “I missed a lot of putts today but did have a couple of good opportunities. But Georg holed a few good ones out there so it was just basically get out there, back yourself and get the job done.
“Aegean really put on an amazing event together with everybody involved – the conditions and courses have been great, you cannot forget the staff who have been great and everything is immaculate.”
The two-round, 60-team, Pro-Am event was won by the PGA of GB&I’sStuart Boyle from Wentworth Golf Club and his amateurs Haris Papadopoulos, Georgios Kyvernitis and Dimitris Carokis. Their 183-point total (-39) allowed them to complete a Costa Navarino-double having also won the 2017 Messinia Pro-Am earlier in the year.
“We are delighted,” said Boyle. “We came second last year so we came back this year wanting to go one better and thankfully we pulled together as a team and delivered.”
“The courses are great, the people are friendly, the hotel and facilities are fantastic – we always speak very highly of the event and it gives us the opportunity to feel like we’re pros,” added Papadopoulos.
Just three points behind was the PGA of Italy’s Gregory Molteni and amateurs, Massimiliano Merlo,PaoloLange and Roberto Montalbano, ending on 180 points (-36) for second place.
