Gouveia earns playoff win in Italy

Published February 05, 2015

Rome, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Ricardo Gouveia birdied the third playoff hole to defeat Florian Fritsch and win the EMC Golf Challenge Open on Sunday.

Gouveia, who earned his first victory on the European Challenge Tour, carded a 4-under 67 at Olgiata Golf Club to join Fritsch (69) at 9-under-par 275 to force a playoff.

The duo opened up with a pair of pars on the first playoff hole. After heading back to the 18th hole again, both Gouveia and Fritsch tripped to bogeys, forcing a third playoff hole.

Now on the par-4 10th, Gouveia came through with a birdie, while Fritsch settled for par to give Gouveia his first career win.

Gouveia opened up his round with five straight pars before he began to make his move. Back-to-back birdies on six and seven had Gouveia in red numbers for the day. He gave one of those shots back when he bogeyed the eighth, but another birdie at No. 9 put Gouveia back at 2-under as he made the turn.

Gouveia made two more birdies on 11 and 13 before tripping to his second bogey on the par-3 14th. He rebounded quickly, however, with two more birdies on 15 and 17. A par at the last would have given Gouveia the title, but another bogey dropped him back a shot, eventually leading to a playoff.

Fritsch, who began the day in the lead, made four birdies and two bogeys in his round.

Edouard Espana (66) and Benjamin Hebert (69) finished in second place at 5- under 279, while Alessandro Tadini (70) ended in sole possession of fifth at minus-4.

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