Sharvin closes with a 66 in Cyprus as Shinkwin triumphs

English player saw off Finland’s Kalle Samooja in a playoff at Aphrodite Hills

Callum Shinkwin and Kalle Samooja touch knuckles after their playoff in the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open at Aphrodite Hills Resort in Paphos, Cyprus. Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Callum Shinkwin and Kalle Samooja touch knuckles after their playoff in the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open at Aphrodite Hills Resort in Paphos, Cyprus. Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

England’s Callum Shinkwin defeated Finland’s Kalle Samooja in a play-off to win his first European Tour title in the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open.

Shinkwin birdied the first extra hole to secure victory after the pair had finished tied on 20 under par.

Cormac Sharvin – the only Irish player to make the cut – finished with an impressive round of 66 for a total of 10 under par and tie for 28th.

Shinkwin, who lost a play-off for the Scottish Open in 2017 after missing from four feet to win on the 72nd hole, had earlier produced a spectacular finish to set the clubhouse target following a closing 63.

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Shinkwin was two shots behind with two holes play but birdied the 17th and then holed from 50 feet for an eagle on the 18th to complete a back nine of 29.

Samooja needed to match Shinkwin’s eagle to win in regulation and saw his long-range attempt run five feet past the hole, but held his nerve to hole the birdie putt to force extra holes.

The 32-year-old then left himself with an almost identical birdie putt to extend the play-off, but pushed it agonisingly wide of the hole.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Cyprus Open Aphrodite Hills Resort, Paphos, Cyprus (British unless stated, par 71):

264 Callum Shinkwin 67 66 68 63 (Shinkwin won play-off at hole 18), Kalle Samooja (Fin) 70 66 64 64

266 Jamie Donaldson 65 65 69 67, Robert Macintyre 68 67 66 65, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 68 66 67 65

267 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 70 66 67 64, Dale Whitnell 68 68 66 65, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 65 67 68 67

268 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 67 69 66 66

269 David Drysdale 65 67 68 69, Thomas Detry (Bel) 66 67 67 69

270 Marcus Armitage 66 64 70 70, Matthew Jordan 69 67 68 66

271 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 67 66 69 69, Jeff Winther (Den) 68 68 65 70, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 69 66 70 66

272 Wil Besseling (Ned) 67 67 72 66, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 69 67 68 68, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 70 66 68, Matthew Southgate 68 69 71 64

273 Julian Suri (USA) 70 65 73 65, Paul Waring 68 69 69 67, Dave Coupland 69 68 70 66, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 71 66 70 66, Jordan Smith 67 66 68 72, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 67 68 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 69 68 67

274 Cormac Sharvin (NIrl) 69 67 72 66, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 69 69 65 71, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 68 68 68 70, Romain Langasque (Fra) 70 69 67 68, James Morrison 68 69 66 71, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 69 67 70 68

275 Mitch Waite 64 70 71 70, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 69 69 69 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 66 71 68, Johannes Veerman (USA) 64 69 70 72, Ricardo Santos (Por) 69 69 71 66, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 68 68 70 69, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 67 73 66

276 Joel Stalter (Fra) 65 71 68 72, Clement Sordet (Fra) 66 68 70 72, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 72 67 71 66, Laurie Canter 67 72 72 65, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 69 69 71 67, Calum Hill 69 69 70 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 69 64 75 68, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 66 69 72 69

277 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 71 68 68 70, Richard McEvoy 66 66 77 68, Grant Forrest 69 69 71 68, Scott Vincent (Zim) 68 68 70 71

278 Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 68 71 69, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 69 68 71 70, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 66 72 70 70, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 68 67 79 64, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 68 70 73 67

279 Andy Sullivan 65 69 69 76, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 70 69 71, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 69 69 71 70, David Horsey 66 69 70 74, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 66 70 74 69

280 Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 69 69 71 71, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 73 65 69 73

281 Ashun Wu (Chn) 68 71 72 70

283 Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spa) 69 68 69 77, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 70 73 71

287 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 68 74 76, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 69 70 74 74