A moment of madness on the par 5 18th nearly cost India’s Jeev Milkha Singh the Austria Open. With a two shot lead, having scored 17 consecutive pars, and having seen both his playing partners drive down the fairway, Singh tugged his drive left away from the water that guards the full extent of the right hand side of the last at Fontana GC in Vienna.

With the ball sitting in a flying lie and on an upslope, Singh had the option of taking a wedge to poke the ball down the fairway or trying the clear the water and sand that stretched out to almost 180 yards.

Taking the more aggressive second option, the clubhead was caught in the long grass and dragged the shot low. Luckily, the long grass at the end of the fairway stopped the ball from diving out of bounds into the water but it was uncomfortably close. An excellent third shot got him to the green and two solid putts would give him his 18th par in a row and the title.

The final putt was no simple thing as Simon Wakefield had reached the green in 2 and sank his birdie putt meaning that Singh’s 5 footer was for the win. The putt was a little nervy but caught the right edge and dropped.

"I feel very fortunate to win with 18 pars," said Singh,"Shooting even par on the last day it’s tough to win and Simon put up a great fight. I think the golfing Gods were looking out for me. They did not want a play-off with the bad weather forecast! I didn’t hit my last putt hard enough but it caught the edge of the hole and went in".

The rain shortened the event to only 3 rounds after play was called off on the first day and Singh burst from the blocks with rounds of 64 and 63 before his final even par round of 71 ensured victory.