ESTORIL OPEN DE PORTUGAL RELATED STORIES Estoril Open de Portugal Preview Round 1: Ross McGowan leads after opening 64 Round 2: Ross McGowan holds on to narrow lead Round 3: Paul Broadhurst edges a shot clear Round 4: Michael Hoey gains maiden European Tour victory Estoril Open de Portugal Scores 2009 European Tour Schedule and Results 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 COMPETITIONS, GIFTS AND OFFERS WIN 2 nights/3 rds at The Vale Resort £10,000 of Teeofftimes prizes in April! WIN Healthspan Supplements WIN tickets to the National Golf Show! Open Champion Tom Watson's DVD Get the Open Fairways card for just £59!

Michael Hoey gains maiden European Tour victory

Michael Hoey recorded his maiden European Tour victory on Sunday when he defeated Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano in a playoff for the Portuguese Open title.

Both players had come through the field to finish on seven-under-par, Hoey with a 66 and Fernandez-Castano a 67, but the Spaniard’s bogey on the third shootout hole handed the 30-year-old Hoey victory.

Northern Irishman Hoey, British Amateur champion in 2001, achieved victory against the odds, ending Fernandez-Castano’s 100 percent record in playoffs.

Both men parred the first two extra holes and both missed the green at the third time of asking but when Castano needed two putts to Hoey’s one from eight feet, the destiny of the $280,000 first prize was decided.

The Northern Irishman recognised how much the victory would mean.

“It’s taken a while to get here but now I can look forward to playing in all the big events, so it will change my life completely,” Hoey told reporters.

“I tried not to think about that in the playoff because I was doing that on the 18th (72nd) when I missed my putt that would have avoided having to play off.”

Fernandez-Castano was bidding for a fifth European Tour title, having won three times out of three in playoffs, but had to concede defeat to a less experienced man.

“I’ve won my last three playoffs. You have to lose one sometime and it was no disgrace losing to Michael. He fully deserved it,” the Spaniard told reporters.

Italy’s Francisco Molinari (68) took third place, a stroke better than Britons Paul Broadhurst (73), the third round leader, and Jamie Donaldson (72) and Swede Mikael Lundberg (70).

Molinari missed a birdie chance from 18 feet on the last to join the playoff, while a double-bogey on the long 13th ruined Broadhurst’s hopes of a third Portuguese Open title in five years.

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