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Japan’s Kota Kaneko secured his first DP World Tour victory in his 12th appearance with a two-stroke victory at the Austrian Alpine Open on Sunday.
The 23-year-old finished with a final-round 67 at 18 under, two shots ahead of America’s Davis Bryant and Portugal’s Ricardo Gouvier.
Topping the leaderboard at the weekend, England’s Andrew ‘Biff’ Johnston recorded his second-consecutive even-par round to finish seven shots off the pace in a tie for 17th.
Kaneko came into the event in strong form after finishing tied-second at last week’s Southern Open in Belgium and leading by one shot after three consecutive 65s in the final day’s play in Kitzbühel.
Kota Kaneko is celebrating the biggest win of his career thus far
A final round of 67 was enough for the Japanese player to clinch the title on Sunday, although he came through a 71-minute delay due to the threat of lightning in the area and then some nervous moments as he returned to the course for the final four holes.
When play resumed after dropping a shot on the par-five 15th, Kaneko seemed to surprise himself by chipping from the edge of the green to take the lead from Bryant on the next hole, the par-three 16th.
Two holes later and, now holding a two-shot lead and looking set to win the title with relative ease, he made a lucky escape off the tee.
His tee shot hit the stand behind the hole, bounced back across the green and was saved only by water and a costly drop shot through the dense greenside rough.
But Kaneko made no mistake from there and said after winning the tournament: “I’m really happy. I still can’t believe I won.
“(The 16th) I knew I hit it hard, but it went in so I was lucky.
“I knew I hit the board (on the 18th) but I knew it didn’t go into the water, so I was happy it didn’t find water.”
The DP World Tour’s European swing continues at the KLM Open in the Netherlands, live on Sky Sports Golf from Thursday to Sunday. Get Sky Sports or Golf Stream with no contract
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