By Ryan Herrington
There was bit of a “Groundhog Day” feel to the playoff on Sunday at the European Tour’s Austrian Golf Open between John Catlin and Maximilian Kieffer. The two finished their final rounds on the par-3 18th hole at Diamond Country Club outside Vienna tied at 14 under for the tournament. So it was on to a sudden-death playoff, which would be played exclusively on that same 18th hole until somebody emerged the winner.

As it turned out there was nothing “sudden” about the playoff, however, the duo putting up matching pars the first two times around, then each making a birdie on the third playing under chilly overcast skies (both players bundled for what appeared like winter weather rather than spring). After each made another par the fourth time around—Catlin with an impressive up and down from a bunker—they trudged back to the tee box on the 180-yard hole, a scant few onlookers patiently waiting to see if somebody would finally seize the moment.

Once more, Catlin, a 30-year-old American who had won twice in a three-week stretch last summer on the European Tour, found the right greenside bunker, seemingly giving his opponent an opening. But Kieffer, a 30-year-old German looking for his first Euro Tour title, proceeded to hit his tee shot fat, the ball finding the water.

It wasn’t necessarily a mortal wound for Kieffer, who shot a closing 66 to get into the playoff, as he could get up-and-down from the drop zone for bogey, and maybe Catlin doesn’t save his par. But Kieffer then hit his third shot into the water as well. Then his fifth hit the green but spun 15 feet back and into the water once more.

The outcome now, in a quick moment of distress, pretty clear. Except Catlin had to finish the hole to officially claim victory. (Kieffer could not concede the win given they’re in a stroke-play setting). Which meant Kieffer had to play his seventh, finally hitting the green.

Catlin then got to proceed with his bunker shot, getting it on the green to roughly 10 feet. Kieffer managed to hole his 17-foot putt for a quintuple-bogey 8, and Catlin then missed his par putt, which of course didn’t really matter.

“It’s always nice to win,” Catlin said afterward. “It’s tough to watch that happen … we’re out here giving it our all.”

Every shot from the #AustrianGolfOpen play-off ?️ pic.twitter.com/JXBE4F5jiV

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) April 18, 2021

Kieffer, who is familiar with long playoffs having have lost on the ninth playoff hole to Raphael Jacquelin at the 2013 Open de España, was disappointed by stoic. “Every shot on the playoff felt good, too, but the last shot [first tee shot on the fifth extra hole] was a bit stupid. I got a bit too aggressive.”

Suffice it to say, we don’t think we’re going to see a playoff scorecard like this again any time soon.

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By John Huggan
Martin Kaymer has achieved much in his professional career. World No. 1 in 2011. Winner of the 2010 PGA Championship and the 2014 U.S. Open. Players champion in 2014. Eleven European Tour victories. And four Ryder Cup appearances, including making the trophy-clinching putt for Europe in his second start at Medinah in 2012.

All good, but all some time ago. What the 36-year-old German has not done since June 2014 and that U.S. Open at Pinehurst is win a golf tournament.

But unlike Jordan Spieth (who ended a 1,351 day winless drought earlier this month at the Valero Texas Open), Hideki Matsuyama (1,344 days with his Masters win) and Lydia Ko (1,084 days after her Lotte Championship win on Saturday), the wait goes on for Kaymer, 2,499 days and counting.

Despite starting the final round of the Austrian Golf Open at the Diamond Country Club tied for the lead alongside Alejandro Canizares at nine under par, Kaymer’s closing round of 70 was good enough only for third place. Undone by a terrible start—he was three over par for the day after only three holes—the two-time major champion ended up three-shots out of the playoff won by American John Catlin over another German, Max Kieffer. It was Catlin’s third European Tour victory in his last 13 starts.

Kaymer’s problems on Sunday began as early as the opening par 5. Just short in two, he twice duffed chip-shots—long his golfing achilles’ heel—en route to an opening bogey. Indeed, by the eighth tee, Kaymer’s race was essentially run. Kieffer’s four birdies and an eagle in the opening seven holes put him six shots ahead of his teammate in the 2018 World Cup. At that stage, Catlin was four back.

Thereafter, Kaymer steadied himself, four birdies in his last six holes comfortably securing the bronz-medal position, three shots clear of the three players tied for fourth place. Although Kaymer tried to look on the bright side at the conclusion of his round, his frustration at spurning a gilt-edged opportunity for long-awaited victory surely outweighed any pleasure derived from his fast finish.

“I played really well the last 15 holes,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I threw myself out of the tournament after three holes, but it was obviously a disappointing start. Especially as I had played the opening three holes really well the first three days. I had a terrible lie on the first hole. But I should have been able to make five from there. And then a double bogey is always a screw-up. Overall though, It was a good week for me.”

As for the winner, this was Catlin’s third European Tour victory in the last eight months. And it was well-earned. The bogey-free 65 shot by the Californian was the low round of the final day. But only at the fifth time of asking at the 184-yard par-3 18th did the 30-year-old manage to separate himself from Kieffer, a man well used to lengthy playoffs. Eight years ago he came out second-best to Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin after nine extra holes at the Open de España. That remains Kieffer’s closest brush with victory in 216 European Tour starts.

“It’s always nice to win, but it was tough to watch Max find the water [three times] at that last hole,” said a magnanimous Catlin, who made an amazing up-and-down from sand to extend the playoff past the fourth extra-hole. “I had about a three-foot gap in which to land the ball on that bunker shot and I landed right in the middle of it. As soon as it bounced I knew it had a chance. To make a par from there was maybe a one-in-a-thousand shot. So to come out on top is something I will always cherish.”

Catlin also has much to look forward to. Rising into the world’s top-100 players will likely earn him a major championship debut in next month’s PGA Championship.

“I’d love to get a chance to play in the events I’ve always wanted to be a part of,” he said. “That’s been a goal of mine since I was a kid, to win a major championship. So it would be nice to have that opportunity.”

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