World No. 1 Luke Donald warmed up for the Open in the best way possible with victory in the storm-hit Scottish Open at Inverness on Sunday.
Donald captured his third Tour title this year by four shots with a final round 63 for a 19-under par victory tally in the reduced 54-hole event on the Castle Stuart course.
Donald had commenced the last day in a share of fifth place at one stroke behind four players who led at 11-under par, but surged to the front with four birdies in succession from the third hole from where he was never headed.
Photo: Reuters
“I holed putts when I needed to, and it’s nice to do it when it matters,” Donald said. “Certainly I did that today. So it’s nice to get another victory, too. I think I can get used to this.”
The 33-year-old Chicago-based Briton collected his sixth European Tour success and his 10th worldwide with a round that included nine birdies, four of them in -succession from the third hole.
Donald, who has yet to win a Major, was heading straight to Royal St George’s in Kent to prepare for Thursday’s start of the 140th Open.
Sweden’s Frederik Andersson Hed carded a last round of 62 to finish a distant second on 15-under par and in his best finish since winning last year’s Italian Open.
Six players shared third place at 14-under par, including Argentina’s Angel Cabrera (67), Italian Lorenzo Galgi (66), Chilean Mark Tullo (66), South African George Coetzee (67), Belguim’s Nicolas Colsaerts (67) and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson (69).
However, it was Jamieson with one of the biggest smiles.
Despite commencing the final round in a four-way share of the lead at 11-under par, the 27-year old Tour rookie holed a 20-foot birdie putt on 18 in a round of 69 to earn a place in this week’s Open. Cabrera and Colsaerts were already exempt, with Jamieson earning the place as his current 205th world ranking was lower than Coetzee (155th), Tullo (232nd) and Gagli (353rd).
However, while Jamieson was happy, compatriot Colin Montgomerie ended a run of 21 straight appearances in the Open by missing out on qualification.
Last year’s Ryder Cup-winning captain needed a top-five finish to make the field at Royal St George’s, but a double-bogey on the short 11th ultimately cost him. He carded a final day 70 for a share of 31st place at 10-under par.
“I got in a position and it’s disappointing,” he said. “It was going well and then I sort of ran out of puff. I’m just driving home now and it will sink in then.”
“It’s very disappointing as I just came up too short, so there you go,” he said.
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