Worldwide Golf

RICHIE Ramsay won his maiden European Tour title at the South African Open Championship, three years after becoming the first Scot to win the US Amateur Championship in 108 years.

Ramsay and Indian Shiv Kapur finished level on 13-under par and it was the Scot who prevailed with a two-putt birdie on the first extra hole.

“There’s no greater feeling than winning and I’m just a flood of emotions – I’m holding back the tears,” said Ramsay after receiving prize money of €158,500 and a European Tour exemption until the end of 2011.

Ramsay began the final day in ninth place, five strokes adrift from Pablo Martin – winner of the Alfred Dunhill Championship a week earlier - and shot a best-of-the-day 65 to get to 13-under alongside Kapur who posted a 67. Martin failed to improve on his winning position and dropped down to sixth place with a 73.

The pair went back down the 601 yard par-5 18^th and Ramsay, who hadn’t dropped a shot all day, was on in two shots and sealed the victory with a birdie.

“Things just went for me,” he admitted. “But I am a lot more positive now - I go out believing and thinking I can win.”

The trio of Denmark’s Anders Hansen, Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed and Italian Edoardo Molinari could have joined the play-off on 13-under par with an eagle on the last but failed. Hansen made a birdie to take third place outright on 12-under while Andersson Hed and Molinari finished with a par for a tie for fourth, one shot further back.

Molinari’s finish was good enough for him to climb into the top 50 on the Official World Golf Rankings and join his brother Francesco in The Masters in April while Ramsay’s win saw him jump from 240^th in the world to just inside the top 120.