Dredge cruises to victory in Madeira to claim first European Tour title

WALES’ Bradley Dredge cruised to a commanding victory in the Madeira Island Open to claim his first European Tour title.

Dredge carded a final-round 71 for a 16-under total of 272 and eight-shot win over Swede Fredrik Andersson, English duo Brian Davis and Andrew Marshall, to take the £67,790 first prize at Santo da Serra.

Sam Little took fifth place a shot further back with Holland's Robert-Jan another stroke adrift in sixth on his first appearance since his shock victory in the Dubai Desert Classic. The foundations for Dredge's overdue maiden win were firmly laid by his brilliant third-round 60, when he came within inches of recording the first ever 59 on the European Tour. He started the final day with an eight-shot lead and although he bogeyed the first, a birdie at the third settled any nerves and victory was never in doubt.

Dredge, 72nd in the world rankings, was the only member of the top 100 competing in Madeira and found himself in the unusual position of outright favourite at the start of the week. The 29-year-old has twice finished runner-up on the European Tour and also recorded nine other top-10 places last season as he finished 18th on the Order of Merit.

But the former Walker Cup player was desperate to end his search for a first tour victory after coming close to claiming the prestigious Volvo Masters title eventually shared by Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer at the end of last year. "It feels wonderful," said Dredge, who could comfortably afford the luxury of a bogey on the last. "I've waited a long time for this, so I'm going to savour it for a few weeks at home.

"Going out and shooting 60 in the third round made things so much easier. I made a few errors today, but I knew my game was in good shape.

"It was difficult in a way today because my normal game is quite attacking, but sometimes I had to be aware of tough pin positions and play for the centre of the green instead.

"I thought someone could have shot 64 today, but I looked at the leaderboard on the 12th hole and still had an eight-shot lead which made my life a lot easier."

Dredge will now anxiously await the publication of the updated world ranking list today to see if his victory is enough to lift him from 72nd into the top 50. That would earn him entry into the US Masters if he could remain there until the week before the first major of the year from April 10-13.

"That was one of my goals at the start of the year, but I didn't play as well as I wanted so it took a back seat," he added. "I'm not playing between now and the Masters, so I'll just have to hope it's enough."

The main interest on the final day centred on the battle for second place and only a bogey on the 17th from Little prevented it from being a four-way tie.

Marshall conjured up the best finish with birdies at the last two holes, his 7-iron on the par-three 17th hitting the pin and stopping six inches away from a hole-in-one. "I didn't play great, but a good finish like that is always nice," he said.