The Englishman, who only celebrated his 50th birthday 15 days ago, becomes just the tenth player to win first time out on the European Senior Tour and he had to do it the hard way by holing a curling downhill 25-foot putt to get into a play-off at Archerfield Links Golf Club. He then needed two more birdies to beat a dogged opponent who earlier in the year had won his own maiden Senior Tour title at the Swiss Seniors Open at Bad Ragaz.
Broadhurst had briefly held a four shot lead over the field after reaching seven under par after 12 holes of his second round but by the time he had posted a 68 he had been caught by Mason and he needed to come out the next day and card a flawless 68 to claim the €53,778 first prize.
“I’m speechless,” he said after ending Manson’s hopes of becoming the first Scottish-born winner of the title since Sam Torrance back in 2006. “Yesterday when I finished the way I did I let 15 guys back in to the tournament. I didn’t sleep too much last night but today I played pretty solid.
“I have to admit I’m a bit surprised because I’ve got a dreadful play-off record. I mean it’s dreadful. Absolutely dire. I was two from 12 before today and none from four on the European Tour, so I suppose you could say I was due one.
“This means a lot to me. It’s been nine years since I won a tournament as big as this so I’m a bit emotional at the moment. I want to dedicate it to Dave Baxter, a real big pal of mine who died earlier this year. He travelled around the world with me so it’s a shame he isn’t around to see this today.
“I’m also chuffed to bits for my friends back home,” he added.
“I must have had about 50 people tell me they were going to back me in my first event. I told them not to be daft because playing the Senior Tour is a lot different to playing in the Midland region, but at least I didn’t let them down.
“The family are going to be pleased too. I said the other day my bank balance had taken a bit of a battering over the last three or four years but this nice cheque should see me through to Christmas.”
Austrian Manson was in a sanguine mood after settling for second place behind the former Ryder Cup player. He had also carded a flawless 68 to finish tied with Broadhurst on seven under par 209 but saw his hopes of a second win of the season dashed after his 15-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole horse-shoe out of the hole.
“That was a great putt Paul hit on the last hole to get into the play-off and he followed that with two more birdies in extra time so I can’t be too hard on myself.
“I was relaxed all day and feeling strong but in the end Paul did a little better than me and all credit to him for that.
“The putt at the last ran right round the hole. That’s 360 degrees when I was a school but this is another good finish in what has been a great season for me. I’ve had a first and two seconds so I’m absolutely delighted. I know I can do it now and I can move on to next week’s Travis Perkins Masters with a lot of confidence.”
Further down the leaderboard, Welshman Mark Mouland also closed with a 68 to finish third on four under par 212 while China’s Lianwei Zhang claimed his best finish of his rookie season on the European Senior Tour after carding a best-of –the-week five under par 67 to finish tied third alongside Cesar Monasterio and Tim Thelen on three under par.
Carl Mason, the most successful champion in Senior Tour history, was next best placed after closing with his second 71 of the week to finish in seventh place on two under par 214 while former champion, Bill Longmuir, was the best-placed Scot in a share of eighth place alongside Barry Lane and Pedro Linhart.
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