HARTLEPOOL'S Graeme Storm yesterday secured his maiden professional victory at the European Challenge Tour's Ryder Cup Wales Challenge.
Storm won with a stunning 26 under par 262 total to claim a prize of 20,000Euros (£13,793). He has won 34,310 Euros (£23,662) this year and put him in a strong position to secure a place on the 2005 European Tour International Schedule as one of the top 15 Challenge Tour graduates.
"This win means everything to me, I'm delighted," he said. "I feel like I have finally got the monkey off my back in terms of winning my first event as a professional.
"After winning the British Amateur there was just so much expectation on me, but it feels good to have won a four round professional event at this level.
"You have to believe in yourself to be able to do that and thankfully I was able to do that and finish off the job.
"I think the turning point for the round came in and around the turn when I went eagle-birdie on the eighth and ninth which was crucial because it gave me a two shot lead.
"Then I hit a lady on the leg to stay in bounds on the 12th which gave me a good feeling because I did that in the Walker Cup in 1999.
"I was playing the 15th and I hit a spectator on the back to stay in bounds which kept me in the game at the time and got me to my half on the 18th which won us the Walker Cup!
"But these things go for you and against you week in, week out and you just have to put it down to fate and get on with it, which is what I did."
Storm bogeyed the 13th to bring him and Mathew King level on 25 under with five to play.
But Storm went on to birdie the 15th and 16th which handed him three shot lead with two holes to play.
l Stoke's David Lynn admitted his maiden European Tour win felt ''awesome'' after he overhauled Australian Richard Green's three-shot advantage to win the KLM Open in Holland by three strokes.
This was the 30-year-old's first success in 168 attempts, becoming the 11th first-time winner on the European Tour this season and the fourth in as many weeks.
''I feel absolutely awesome,'' said Lynn, who revealed he had allowed the occasion to get to him on the penultimate hole as he realised he was heading down the 18th with a two-shot lead.
''I was getting a bit carried away going down 17 and there was a tear in my eye and I had to pull myself together.
''You have got to make key putts and some went for me. You just have to make those crucial putts at the time and then hang on.''
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