Japan’s Kota Kaneko held on to defend his maiden DP World Tour title with a two-shot victory at the Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel Tirol.
The 23-year-old, who won the Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit last season to earn his DP World Tour card this season, fired a final-round 67 (-3) to finish 18 under at Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith, two ahead of Ricardo Gouveia and Davis Bryant for a share of second.
Kaneko arrived in Austria after finishing second in last week’s Soudal Open, and was delighted to go one better seven days later and claim the €401,554 first prize.
With Sunday’s sessions moved forward four hours to avoid the threat of incoming lightning, it was Gouveia who made the first move on the second hole to stay alongside third-round leader Kaneko at 15 under, but the Portuguese soon found himself alone in front when his Japanese teammate holed out on the par.
Kaneko birdied the fifth to return to the lead, before home favorite Max Steinlechner joined them at three par.
Steinlechner enjoyed a two-birdie blast to put himself in contention, with a hat-trick of advantages from the second before three more birdies from the ninth. He wasn’t the only Austrian to climb the leaderboard as nine-time DP World Tour winner Bernd Wiesberger followed up with a birdie at the third and three more from the sixth to reach 15 under.
Joost Luiten finished his front 9 with his third birdie of the day to extend the group lead to five, only for Gouveia to hole out with a 15-foot birdie putt to take an outright lead on the same hole. Gouveia improved to 17 under with a birdie at the 10th, but Kaneko was behind after the follow through. However, the Portuguese leader ran into trouble in the next round and was unable to pull away, falling back alongside Kaneko at 16 under.
Kaneko put his foot on the pedal with a birdie at the 12th before a stunning shot at the par-three 13th. Wiesberger holed the putt from town to join Gouveia at 16 under, but the pair were two back. The Japanese player held his nerve from three feet to card his third birdie in four holes and became the first player to reach 18 under.
Bryant closed the gap to one, following up with an eagle and four birdies on the 16th, while Kaneko bogeyed the 15th and had a long putt to save par, pulling it out after a lengthy weather delay.
That meant Kaneko and Bryant were tied for the lead at 17 under, but only for one hole. Despite finding a critical situation on the par-three 16th, Kaneko blocked his chip shot to regain his shot at 18 under. Bryant made one last attempt to give the Japanese two shots, something he never gave up.
Kaneko smoothed his way home, despite a scary finish when he hit the stands behind the green and his ball landed in the rough next to the water hazard, to claim his first DP World Tour title.
Kota Kaneko WITB
Driver: Ping G440 Max (10.5°)
Fairway Woods: TaylorMade Qi4D (16.5°), TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (21°), TaylorMade Qi4D (24°)
Irons: TaylorMade P-760 (5-9)
Wedges: Titleist, Vokey SM11 (46°, 52°, 56°, 60°)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-ONE Cruiser Arm Lock 7
Football: Titleist Pro V1
