Daniel Gavins turns free hit into breakthrough European Tour win at ISPS Handa World Invitational

Gavins carded a bogey-free final round of 65 at Galgorm Castle to set the clubhouse target of 13 under par that none of the later starters proved able to to match, leaving the 30-year-old as the ISPS Handa World Invitational champion.

Compatriot David Horsey held a share of the lead until losing a ball on the 18th following a wild tee shot, while New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier had been 13 under before dropping shots on the 16th and 17th.

Gavins, who was ranked 995th in the world at the end of 2020 and had never previously recorded a single top-10 finish on the European Tour, said: “I can’t believe it.

“I’m speechless. I don’t really know what to say. I just tried to shoot as low as I could. Seven behind I didn’t really think I had a chance of winning so maybe there was a bit less pressure there.

“I’ve been playing well but I was going to have the week off because I knew there were a lot of Challenge Tour events coming up so I thought a week off maybe and then play the rest of the Challenge Tour.

“It just feels amazing. I don’t think it’s going to sink in for a while. It’s just a dream come true really.”

Gavins, who plays out of Howley Hall and has twice gone through Qualifying School to get onto the European Tour, was playing in only his third tournament on the main circuit this year having spent much of the time on the second-tier Challenge Tour. “It’s been a pretty long season so far on the Challenge Tour. But I came because one of my mates was going to caddie for me. We just we treated it like a week to have some fun really.”

That mentality certainly bore fruit as his fearless approach saw him hole a bunker shot and sink putts in excess of 60 feet on two of the last six holes.

“I went into today playing each hole as it came and just tried to stay patient out there. A few birdies led to a few more, and yeah, here we go,” he said.

“It started on the par-3 when I holed a bunker shot for the birdie. It was a pretty tough bunker shot. I managed to hole that,” said Gavins who has five top-10s on the Challenge Tour in 11 starts this year.

“Then the next hole rolled in like a 70-foot putt for birdie, which was a pretty tough hole.

“And then same on 13 and same on 16, I’ve rolled in 60 feet again on both of those holes, which was a bit of luck in there.”

Having ended last year almost outside the top 1,000 golfers in the world, and ranked 453rd at the start of the week, Gavins is now up to 194th in the world. He also climbs to 78th on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai which should guarantee him a card for next year.