Justin Rose boosted his status as a British Open contender and earned a place in the Ryder Cup team when he won the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen by two shots on Sunday.
Rose was in a class of his own posting a final-round six-under-par 65 for a 16-under-par total and his 15th victory worldwide.
The Englishman, who will now move to a career-high of No. 3 in the world, also captured a rare PGA Tour and European Tour back-to-back victory double having won the Quicken Loans National in his last event before a first-ever success in Scotland.
“It’s unbelievable, to be back in the winner’s circle so quickly,” he said. “I’m delighted to have won over here on The European Tour and delighted to have won a tournament of this sort of magnitude over here. It’s unbelievable, my first win in Scotland as a pro, and a lot of firsts for me really today.
“It’s the first time I have won two tournaments in a row so I have to be really pleased with to be honest,” he added.
Victory also guaranteed Rose a place in September’s European Ryder Cup team.
Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg shot a 66 to finish runner-up at 14-under and secure a place in this week’s British Open at Hoylake in what will be his first Major.
“I played all right actually, like a couple of months now,” he said. “But my short game is so much better right now. I’m just pleased to be in the Open and play my first major. Overall, I’m just happy to be runner-up to Justin Rose. He played really well this week.”
Marc Warren of Scotland was third, five shots behind, while compatriot Stephen Gallacher had a share of fourth place on 10-under with a new joint course record of eight-under-par 63.
Also setting a new low earlier in the round was Chilean Felipe Aguilar, three days after Rory McIlroy broke the previous course record by two shots with a 64.
Joining Broberg in securing the three places into the British Open was England’s Tyrrell Hatton (68), who shared fourth place on 10-under, along with Scotland’s Scott Jamieson (64), who was tied in eighth spot at nine-under.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson heads to his defense of the British Open shooting a final-round 65 to share 11th place at eight-under.
Double Major winning McIlroy turned around Friday’s horror seven-over-par 78 to play the weekend rounds in seven-under and share 14th place on seven-under.
“Overall it was good, but then a 67 is actually pretty average out there,” he said. “The course is playing very, very easy and I mean, 67, and I’ve actually moved down one spot on the leader board. So it’s like par out there was probably around 68, 67, but now looking forward to getting to Hoylake and getting ready there.”
“I see enough good signs in my game to give me some confidence going into next week,” he added.
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