Italian Edoardo Molinari claimed his first European tour title when he won the Scottish Open on Sunday with a closing three-over-par 74 in bad weather at Loch Lomond.
Molinari’s 12-under-par 272 total gave him victory by three strokes over Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, who led for the first two rounds. Clarke’s 76 was still enough to earn him a place in this week’s British Open one stroke ahead of Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin.
Jacquelin holed a 50-foot putt on the last to total eight-under, while Clarke slipped back to nine-under by three-putting the 18th.
The winner’s younger brother Francesco (72), with whom he won the World Cup of golf last year, took a share of fourth place, five shots adrift of his sibling, along with Swede Peter Hedblom (72) and Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher (68).
Starting only a stroke ahead of Clarke, Edoardo Molinari soon broke four clear of the Ulsterman, who ran up a double-bogey on the long third. Clarke took three strokes to emerge from a hazard.
When brother Francesco, beginning the round five strokes in arrears of his sibling, also bogeyed the hole by straying on to the loch beach, the outcome of the tournament was in little doubt.
Edoardo made mistakes in strong winds and occasional heavy rain, running up a double-bogey on 15 after hitting into the woods, to give himself a nervy finale before picking up the US$743,500 first prize.
With it came a vault up the world rankings to just outside the top 20 and sixth place in Europe’s Ryder Cup world points table, now only two places adrift of automatic qualification for Colin Montgomerie’s team. Francesco has climbed to fifth place in the overall European Cup table, with nine players qualifying automatically.
Edoardo, 29, the 2005 US Amateur champion, had great success on the lower-ranked Challenge Tour last year, winning three times and totting up record winnings.
He has now followed on from 27-year-old Francesco’s 2006 Italian Open success.
JOHN DEERE CLASSIC
AFP, SILVIS, Illinois
Steve Stricker won his second straight John Deere Classic title on Sunday, hanging on for a two-stroke victory over Paul Goydos after leading by as many as seven.
Stricker had posted the lowest 54-hole total in US PGA Tour history, and while he couldn’t maintain the blistering scoring pace he set in the first three rounds he did get a crucial birdie at the 17th en route to a one-under 70 and a 26-under par winning total of 258.
Goydos, who shot a dazzling 59 in the first round, carded a 66 for 260. Although he couldn’t secure his first victory since 2007, Goydos’ runner-up finish did give him a place in the British Open at St Andrews.
Deere officials arranged for two charter jets to fly players direct to Scotland on Sunday night.
Jeff Maggert carded a 70 to take third place on 264.
Stricker led by six at the start of the day and quickly stretched the lead to seven with a 7ft birdie putt on the first hole.
However, he had to battle through the rest of the round before giving himself some breathing room at 17, where he drove into the trees right of the fairway, punched out to 91 yards and landed his next shot within 6ft.
He made that for a much-needed birdie.
Goydos also birdied the hole, and when Goydos’ was in the water at 18, it no longer mattered that Stricker bogeyed the last after laying up.
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