Callum Shinkwin hopes to “ride the wave” of winning his maiden European Tour title as he gets to grips with the unique format of the Cyprus Showdown.
Shinkwin defeated Finland’s Kalle Samooja in a play-off to win the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open on Sunday and is back at the same venue a few days later in pursuit of back-to-back victories.
The Cyprus Showdown will have a 105-man field for the first two rounds of stroke play as normal, with the top 32 players and ties advancing to Saturday’s play with their scores reset.
The top 16 and ties after another 18 holes of stroke play on Saturday then advance to Sunday, again with their scores reset, with whoever shoots the lowest score on Sunday claiming the 200,000 euro first prize.
“I’ve done some research on the rules for this week,” said Shinkwin, whose victory lifted him to 168th in the world rankings. “Two rounds to get through and then we start again, get through, and then an 18-hole shootout.
“That inspires birdies, lots of birdies. I’ve enjoyed myself here and don’t have to worry about performing really well again.
“Everyone loves performing well every week but I think after your first time win it’s hard to perform again. I’m not expecting too much. I’ll just ride the wave.
“There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be feeling good about this week. I got a PB on Call of Duty too, so everything is going great.”
Shinkwin began Sunday’s final round two shots off the lead, but carded a brilliant closing 63 which included a birdie-eagle finish in a back nine of 29.
The 27-year-old’s 20-under-par total was matched by Samooja but the Finn then missed from short range for birdie on the first extra hole after Shinkwin had got up and down from a greenside bunker.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Shinkwin added. “I guess I’ve got to wait until I get home – I can’t even see family that much when I go back either but I’ve still got my wife and child, so that’ll be nice.
“It took me a couple of days to go through all my messages. You’re getting phone calls left, right and centre, non-stop. It was great to see so many people messaging and supporting me.
“It would have been better if I had holed a putt to win, more of an adrenaline rush. With Kalle missing his putt it’s not nice to win that way, but also winning is winning, at the end of the day.”
