José Coceres won his first Staysure Tour title at the Swiss Seniors Open, carding just two bogeys in 54 holes as he secured a two-stroke victory at Golf Club Bad Ragaz.
The 55-year-old closed with a four under par 66 to add to his previous rounds of 65-68 and in doing so finished 11 under, two shots ahead of five runners-up on nine under par, including second round leader Peter O’Malley.
Coceres posted a two under par front nine and made the turn two shots behind leader Andrew Oldcorn, but as the Scot faltered, the Argentine remained calm and quietly went about his business, carding another pair of birdies on the back nine before claiming victory with a two-putt par at the final hole.
“I’m very happy to win this tournament,” he said. “It’s my first time winning a Staysure Tour event. I’m very happy to be back in Europe and winning tournaments because I played for about 20 years on the European Tour and I’m really happy to be back here.
“We won in Spain and we won in Dubai and I’ve also won on the PGA Tour in America so I’m very happy to have won on this Tour too.”
Coceres has already secured two top five finishes this season – at the Jordan Mixed Open and the Senior Italian Open – and with victory in Switzerland, it shows the work he has put into his game recently is paying dividends.
“This victory has helped me to believe in myself and to believe in all the work I’m doing at the moment,” he said. “This is for everybody that has trusted me and supported me on social media. Chino Fernandez, my coach, has helped me every day to improve and I am really happy that our work has paid off.
“The flag I held up at the end had the name of the golf course where I train in Argentina on it and that was to say thank you to them because they have supported me for most of my life.”
O’Malley ended the day where he started it, on nine under par after posting a level par 70, and he shares second place with Peter Baker, Phillip Price, Chris Williams and defending champion Jean-François Remesy, who posted a closing six under par 64 as he went in search of back-to-back titles.
Rafael Gomez, countryman of winner Coceres, finished in tied seventh on eight under par alongside Oldcorn, while Roger Chapman, Bob May and Ian Woosnam complete the top ten having finished on seven under par in tied ninth.
The Staysure Tour now travels to PGA Catalunya, Spain, for the European Tour Destinations Senior Classic from July 12-14.
