Andrea Pavan won his first European Tour title in style at the Czech Masters, a back-nine birdie blitz enough to reel in Padraig Harrington.
Leaderboard
-22 Andrea Pavan
-20 Padraig Harrington
-17 Gavin Green
-15 Scott Jamieson, Lee Slattery
-14 Tom Lewis
Day four report
Andrea Pavan won his first European Tour title in style at the Czech Masters, a back-nine birdie blitz enough to reel in Padraig Harrington.
The pair began round four clear of the chasing pack and were never in danger of being reeled in, but it was Harrington who appeared in command as he opened up a three-shot lead at the turn.
Pavan, level par to that point, then found five birdies in seven holes, the last two coming after a bogey from Harrington at the 15th which gave the Italian a two-stroke lead to defend heading to the 18th.
As he lagged a lengthy birdie putt to three feet, Harrington's attempt to pile on the pressure hit the edge and Pavan was able to roll in his 67th and final shot of the round to win by two.
Harrington moved three clear with a birdie on the ninth and did little wrong, but a short par miss at the 15th for just his second bogey of the week turned the tide in Pavan's favour, and the 29-year-old took the opportunity with both hands courtesy of a lengthy birdie putt at the next hole.
What a putt, @AndreaPavan89!
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 26, 2018
He takes the lead with two holes to play. pic.twitter.com/Cz0DKa4shh
Pavan then curled in another birdie at the 17th to build a cushion and while Harrington's fine approach to the last kept the tournament alive, when his birdie try missed so ended his bid for a first European Tour win in two years.
Former Challenge Tour money list winner Pavan started the year outside the world's top 750 players but is set to climb inside the top 150 after completing a long-awaited breakthrough at the top level.
He told Sky Sports: "I can't believe it to be honest. Coming down the back nine trailing Padraig since the beginning, he was playing really well and not making any mistakes and I just knew I needed to stay aggressive and it was amazing to finish this way.
"To birdie 16 and 17 was unreal. You know when you go against such a great player that you have to stay aggressive and that was my mentality today.
"This week everything seemed to work - my driving has been a struggle for years and this year I found a new driver in Australia and it seemed to be working much better.
"Even if this week it wasn't key, the putting the first three days was unbelievable."
Seeking a first win since 2016 just days after losing his PGA Tour card, Harrington was pleased with his performance.
"It was a good contest, no doubt about it," Harrington said. "I obviously don't feel like I lost it, Andrea won it for sure. He played great coming home and holed the decisive putts. I get my fair share of wins but it wasn't my day today.
"I don't feel I have an issue playing against these younger guys, I feel I can certainly keep up with them and I have some good things in my own game. Even from a week like this, you learn more when you get in contention.
"I'm seeing things about my game that I can improve and work on. I'm in a nice place, I just have to keep doing the good stuff and hopefully there'll be more tournaments like this ahead."
Gavin Green matched Harrington's 69 to keep hold of third, with Lee Slattery moving up into a share of fourth with Scott Jamieson courtesy of a closing 68.
Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a best-of-the-day 66 to move into seventh but Thomas Pieters, who was as short as 2/1 after an opening 64, ended a frustrating week with two late bogeys to fall to ninth having started the day with an eagle.
Alongside Pieters sat fellow Ryder Cup hopeful Eddie Pepperell and both will head to the final qualifying event, next week's Made In Denmark, with one final chance to impress.
Day three report
Padraig Harrington rolled back the years with a bogey-free 65 to take a share of the lead into the final round of the D+D Real Czech Masters in Prague.
The 46-year-old Irishman will act as a vice captain at the Ryder Cup next month but he showed the sort of form that earned him six playing appearances at the biennial spectacular to sit alongside Italy's Andrea Pavan at 17 under.
Pavan also carded a bogey-free 65 and the leading pair will enter Sunday with a three-shot lead over Malaysian Gavin Green and four ahead of Scotland's Scott Jamieson.
England's Eddie Pepperell could move into an automatic qualifying place for the Ryder Cup with a win, while Belgian Thomas Pieters is looking to impress European captain Thomas Bjorn and earn a wild card, but they will both head into round four six shots off the lead.
Harrington got up and down to birdie the par five first and then some dialled-in iron play brought further gains on the sixth and seventh.
The par-five ninth, 10th and 12th saw the three-time major winner pick up three more shots to share the lead with Pavan and when he made an eight-foot putt on the 14th, he led on his own.
Pavan then holed a brilliant double-breaker down the slope on the 15th to make it a tie at the top once more.
"I feel like it was a day too early," said Harrington. "It took a lot out of me, a lot of focus and I holed the putts that you'd like to be holing on a Sunday.
"I'm hoping there's still another round in it but it was certainly one of those days that you'd like to get on a Sunday afternoon rather than a Saturday afternoon.
"I'm not in the running for Ryder Cup at all. I don't deserve to be there and I'm leaving it to the young guys."
Day two report
Green added a second round of 68 to his opening 64 for a halfway total of 12 under par and one-shot lead over Denmark's Jeff Winther, with Thomas Pieters, Padraig Harrington, Andrea Pavan and Tapio Pulkkanen a shot further back.
Pieters needs to rely on a wild card to claim a place in the European side which will seek to regain the Ryder Cup in Paris next month, while England's Eddie Pepperell, who could move into the automatic qualifying places with a win at Albatross Golf Resort, is five off the pace after a 71.
"It's fun to be leader and it's been a while since I've been in this position so I'm going to enjoy it," Green, who is seeking a first European Tour title said. "My dad's on the bag so we're going to have a nice dinner maybe and a good sleep and continue tomorrow.
"I kept to the same game plan as yesterday, hitting the driver everywhere and being pretty aggressive and I was in the rough a couple of times and the fairway a couple of times.
"It's nice having wedges into par fours though, makes it a little bit easier and you can control the spin. That gives you a lot better looks at birdie so I controlled it well and did pretty well so I'm happy."
Pieters won a record four points on his Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine in 2016 after being given a wild card by captain Darren Clarke following a runners-up finish in Prague and victory in Denmark the following week.
"It was obviously more difficult with the wind today but I didn't make enough putts," Pieters said after shooting a 70 alongside Ryder Cup vice-captain Padraig Harrington, whose 68 left the three-time major winner just two shots off the lead on 10 under.
"It was a disappointing finish missing two short ones coming in but overall I'm not unhappy with the position I'm in going into the weekend. I've been striking it really well, it's just the putting that has let me down so I need a good putting week and I really like the greens here."
Day one report
Thomas Pieters sent a timely reminder of his Ryder Cup credentials as he was one of four players to fire a course record of 64 and take a one-shot lead after the opening round of the D+D Real Czech Masters.
The Belgian, who will likely need to rely on a captain's pick from Thomas Bjorn, hit a flawless eight-birdie effort at the Albatross Golf Resort with John Daly, Callum Tarren and Gavin Green also following suit.
Lee Slattery, runner-up last year, finished with three straight birdies to sit one shot further back alongside Andrea Pavin, Nacho Elvira, Jeff Winther, Tapio Pulkkanen, with Eddie Pepperell, chasing automatic Ryder Cup qualification, in the group two shots back.
Pieters, who picked up four points as a wildcard on his Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine, won his maiden European Tour title at the event in Prague in 2015 and opened his round with back-to-back birdies before two further gains at the sixth and eighth saw him turn in 32.
The world No 58 picked up a further four shots in a six-hole stretch on the back nine to take the lead before he was joined at the top of the leaderboard.
"I'd rather go one better here and then do the same next week but I'm going to worry about tomorrow first and then Saturday, a day at a time," Pieters said.
"I drove it pretty well and I putted really nicely. I'm just keeping going whatever I had going in America [where he was sixth in the US PGA] and I'm happy with the start."
Daly, who won the 1991 US PGA and 1995 Open Championship, rolled back the years as he matched Pieters' blemish-free round thanks to a closing birdie - his eighth of the day - at the 18th.
England's Tarren, playing in his debut European Tour event, mixed nine birdies with a solitary dropped shot to equal the new course record while Green picked up four shots on his back nine, including an eagle at the 10th to finish at eight-under par.
Pepperell, who won his maiden European Tour title earlier this season at the Qatar Masters, knew a victory this week could move him into the automatic places for next month's Ryder Cup and he began promisingly with a six-under 66.
The 27-year-old birdied the 10th, 12th and bounced back from his only birdie of the day at the 17th with a gain at the next before picking four further gains over his back nine.
"Apparently I could be close to the Ryder Cup team, but it's not something I'm focused on," Pepperell said.
"If I hit a bad six iron then I'm so angry with that that the Ryder Cup is well out of the mind, but that's a good thing that I'm like that right now and I intend it to stay that way.
"I don't feel any extra pressure, I'm sure Thomas doesn't want me on his team! Usually, I'm a slow starter so to have given myself something to build on this early in the week is pleasing."
Also among the group two shots off the lead are Europe's vice-captaincy duo Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington.
Westwood, whose only dropped shot of the day came at the 17th having started at the 10th, made five birdies in an impressive back nine to surge into contention while Harrington avoided a dropped shot in a six-birdie effort.
Paul Waring, who won his first European Tour title last week at the Nordea Masters, Scotland's Connor Syme, Peter Hanson, Andrew Dodt, Nino Bertasio and Soomin Lee completed the pack at six under.
