Chris Wood had good reason to celebrate his victory at the HotelPlanner Tour’s Italian Challenge Open on Sunday like it was the first of his career after ending a losing run that stretched back almost a decade.
The 38-year-old from Bristol, who won the BMW PGA Championship in 2016 and played in the Ryder Cup that same year, has seen his fortunes tumble to such an extent that he only qualified for Europe’s second tier tour after topping the table on this year’s MENA Tour, a satellite circuit that operates in the Middle East and North Africa, where winner’s cheques are just over £13,000, rather than the six and seven-figure sums played for at top tier events.
After being affected by a huge loss of form bought on by a nerves, Wood is steadily rebuilding his career and following his victory at his first HotelPlanner Tour event of his season, he now finds himself well placed to earn a return to the big leagues from which he disappeared from after losing his DP World Tour card in 2022.
A closing round of 66 at Golf Nazionale saw him clinch the Italian Challenge by one shot from Portugal’s Tomás Gouveia, finishing on 22 under par for the week.
Having started the day in a share of the lead, Wood cruised into a two-stroke lead through nine holes, carding four birdies to go out in 32 strokes. But playing partner Gouveia caught fire around the turn, making four birdies in a row from the eighth, before finding four more in his final five holes.
However, Wood played a delicate chip on the 72nd hole to set up the birdie that sealed a one-stroke triumph, and the 38-year-old was visibly emotional after the round.
“It feels brilliant,” said Wood, who moved up to 275th in the world rankings on the back his triumph. “What a tough day. You’re never given tournaments, you have to go out and earn them and I feel like I did that today.”
“I was giving myself chances on every hole and I had two or three putts that I thought were in around the turn which didn’t drop, which was very frustrating. Then I holed one on the 15th from around 15 feet, and then I managed to sneak one up the last.”
“This win is a massive step in the right direction. This is just my first event of a long season on this tour, but it’s an amazing way to start.”
Gouveia eventually signed for a final round 66 to finish in solo second while the third member of the final group, Barclay Brown, finished in solo third on 20 under.
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