David Lipsky survives Storm in dramatic play-off

David Lipsky: Special moment. Picture: Getty

Lipsky almost holed his approach to the 18th hole to card a closing 65 and force a play-off with England’s Graeme Storm after the pair finished tied on 18-under-par at Crans-sur-Sierre.

They returned to the 18th for the first extra hole and the tournament looked to be over when Storm’s drive missed the fairway and finished up against a wall, close to a plaque commemorating the place from where the late Seve Ballesteros pulled off a miraculous escape on his way to victory in 1993.

Storm did not appear optimistic of repeating the feat, the 36-year-old saying to his caddie: “Oh well, never mind, it wasn’t meant to be,” before pitching out sideways.

Lipsky had just 86 yards to the hole from a fairway bunker but did not even attempt to go for the green, a decision described as “heartless” by former European Tour player Wayne Riley,  commentating for Sky Sports.

However, Lipsky had the last laugh as he pitched out left of the water guarding the front of the green and then chipped to two feet and holed for a winning par after Storm missed from long range.

The 26-year-old, who usually plays on the Asian Tour and won in Cambodia in 2012, said: “It feels spectacular. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and have been playing well the last couple of weeks and to put it all together this week is very special to me.”

Asked by Riley why he chose to lay-up on the play-off hole, Lipsky added: “I was just debating in my head the worst-case possibilities and scenarios. It was a tough shot out of the bunker and with Graeme only going to make par at best, I decided not to risk going in the water. In the end it was the right play.”

Storm, whose only previous European Tour win came in the French Open in 2007, held a one-shot overnight lead and made the ideal start with birdies at the first two holes, but then three-putted from the edge of the fourth green for a bogey.

That allowed Lipsky to draw level thanks to a tap-in eagle on the reachable par-four seventh and from then on the tournament was wide open with four players briefly tied for the lead on the back nine.

Storm and playing partner Brooks Koepka edged ahead with birdies on the 15th, but Koepka bogeyed the 17th after his approach plugged in a greenside bunker. That looked set to give Storm a crucial advantage playing the last, but Lipsky in the group ahead saw his approach almost spin into the hole to set up a birdie which eventually forced extra holes.

Second place lifted Storm from 159th on the Race to Dubai to 64th and completed a memorable weekend after he won a £100,000 sports car for a hole-in-one on the 11th in the third round. “It’s tough to take right now,” Storm said. “I didn’t have much time between finishing my final round and starting the play-off, so I probably wasn’t as composed as I should have been.

“But overall it’s been an unbelievable week. Obviously I would’ve loved to have won here this week, and it may take a little while to get over the disappointment, but on the plus side I’ve secured my card for next season and that has been the goal the last few weeks.

“I was a bit disappointed to have left my birdie putt on the last in regulation so short, but I didn’t know David had birdied the last to get to 18-under or else I might have gone for the flag and given myself a better chance of making birdie.”

Koepka finished joint third alongside England’s Tyrrell  Hatton, with Danny Willett and Tommy Fleetwood another shot back in fifth, Willett’s 63 being the best round of the day.

Aberdeen’s Richie Ramsay, who won the tournament in 2012 and led by one shot at the halfway stage, finished eighth on 14-under-par after a closing 68 while fellow Scot Marc  Warren was three shots further back after a 66.