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Allen John, the German golfer who is profoundly deaf, went oh so close to capturing the European Open in Hamburg overnight.
The 31-year-old fired in the best final round of 67 with six birdies and a bogey.
The one to beat was American Bryson DeChambeau who had four holes to play where John had finished birdie, birdie, birdie and par.
But DeChambeau imploded with double bogey, double bogey, par and triple bogey to finish well down.
The only one John had to worry about was Englishman Richard McEvoy, who had never won on the European Tour in 236 starts.
Having bogeyed the 71st hole, McEvoy needed a birdie on the last to win by a shot, and that’s exactly what he did.
So close for John, who tied for second with Italian Renato Paratore and Swede Christofer Blomstrand.
John has always been a very talented golfer who had an amateur handicap of plus-4 when he turned pro in 2011.
But he didn’t like the pro life, lost his card in 2012, and gave it away.
John was reinstated as an amateur in 2016, and it will be interesting to see what the future holds.
Perhaps the overnight success will play a major role in that decision.
Excluding Bobby Jones, who was always an amateur in winning majors, only seven amateurs have won professional events on the two major tours.
Phil Mickelson is the last and most famous on the USPGA Tour, capturing the 1991 Northern Telecom Open as an amateur out of Arizona State University.
‘Leftie’ turned pro the next year and has since won 49 tournaments, including five majors, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.
Before him were Gene Littler, Doug Sanders, and Scott Verplank.
Littler won the 1954 San Diego Open, turned pro to win 52 tournaments, including the 1961 US Open.
Sanders captured the 1956 Canadian Open and turned pro to win 24 tournaments, and was runner-up in four majors, while Verplank took out the 1985 Western Open and turned pro in 1986 to win seven tournaments. He’s now competing on the Champions Tour.
Only three amateurs have been successful on the European Tour.
Spaniard Pablo Martin won the 2007 Portugal Open, immediately turned pro and won three as a professional. But he lost his card in 2012 and gave the sport away.
South Korean-born Kiwi Danny Lee won the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic, and has won three pro events since, while Shane Lowry captured the 2009 Irish Open as an amateur, which included a 62 in the second round. Since turning pro, he’s been successful three times.
But the golfing story of the day belongs to Allan John.
There’s only one other profoundly deaf golfer in Kevin Hall, a 35-year-old Afro-American who has a burning desire to own a USPGA ticket.
He’s on the Web.com, Latino-American and McKenzie Tours, but as he says, “People will always see me as deaf and black. I guess that will always be my story”.
Hopefully, that won’t be the case, and that both Allen John and Kevin Hall will be treated as fully-fledged professional golfers.
They deserve it.