Former Longyard golfer Sam Brazel is celebrating the biggest win of his more-than-decade-long professional career after taking out the Hong Kong Open.
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The 37-year old birdied the 18th hole to narrowly edge out Rafa Cabrera-Bello and snare his first title on the European Tour.
Ranked 480th in the world heading in, Brazel, who plays on the Asian Tour, had never had a top-10 European Tour finish before. The win gives him automatic entry into European Tour events for the next two years, and saw him climb to 147th in the world.
"It feels amazing. I'm speechless,” an emotional Brazel said.
“What a win. I feel very privileged to be playing here first of all and then ecstatic to win. As far as where this takes me obviously, I might be playing a few more events in Europe next year and we'll see where that takes me.
"It's been a long time coming. I've been playing good but it's been a bit of a struggle with the old irons but I got set up with a new set of clubs, and it's all sort of turned around. This is the fruit. I wouldn't say I got the shot into the last straight out of the middle but I'm pretty stoked where it finished, I'll tell you."
He and Cabrera-Bello started the round level at 11 under, but the Aussie sank three consecutive birdies on the back nine to take the lead, and then made his birdie putt on the final hole to finish the tournament with a 13-under 267.
"I didn't really feel like it was a battle between the two of us. I was just trying to have fun, I was trying to enjoy moment and enjoy the experience of it all," Brazel said.
One of those watching on with interest was Longyard Pro Steve Myers.
He first met Brazel when he was working at the pro shop at the Longyard, and did a bit of travelling around with him about 10 years ago. They’ve kept in touch since, and Myers had the previous week been up with him at the Australian PGA, where Brazel came 15th.
“It was great, good to see,” he said.
“He’s worked hard for it for a long time.
“He’s pretty much grinded it out all his life making ends meat.”
“Now he’s on the European Tour.”
Longyard Club captain Trevor Leese joined the chorus of congratulations and said it was a fabulous result.
He recalled Brazel as someone who “always showed a lot of promise”, but admittedly never thought he’d reach the heights he has. That said, he has been following his career and has noticed his name popping up a lot more over the last 12 months or so.
Brazel spent around seven years in Tamworth after moving from Walcha when he got the job at the pro shop. He later moved to Lismore when the opportunity to play on the “Troppo Tour”, as it was known, came up.
