GARETH WRIGHT fought until the very end at Antalya Golf Club to win a first PGA Play-Offs crown and secure his status as the PGA number one.

The West Linton PGA Professional holed a vital 15-foot putt for birdie on the PGA Sultan Course’s 18th green to nip in ahead of Matt Cort and secure the crown at the culmination of a frantic day on the south coast of Turkey.

The Welshman had gone toe-to-toe with the Beedles Lake pro over the duration of an action-packed final day.

And he described the experience of going up against Cort as being “like matchplay,” such was the nature of their close-fought battle in the Turkish sun.

He ended the championship with a nine-under-par total of 275, one shot clear of Cort who for much of the day had led, having come in as the overnight leader.

But towards the end Wright began to reel the Leicestershire man in and when Cort got a horrendously unlucky lie beneath the lip of one of the bunkers on the edge of the 18th green, the PGA Cup player spotted his opportunity to pounce.

“To win an event like this where you’ve got 24 of the top players in the country is really thrilling,” he explained.

“There’s some guys out here that have had European Tour cards, it’s a big achievement to come out and win an event like this.

“I’m proud to be the PGA number one and it’s the perfect way to end the PGA season.

“I’ve had a lot of second place finishes this year and of course you always want to win, so I’m really pleased to get this on the board.

Wright will now secure entry to several European and Challenge Tour events next year, including, subject to confirmation from the European Tour, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

There he will likely be joined by the rest of the top 10, including Cort and third-placed Greig Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre), the latter of whom was going for a hat-trick of victories in this event.

“Hopefully we’ll get those Tour spots again and that will be something we can really look forward to next year,” Wright said.

“But we’ve been lucky this week, to come out here to such a great course has been amazing – we’ve been looked after really well.”