Great performance by Matteo Manassero, third with 277 (70 66 72 69, -7) shots who, in an exciting final round, was in the running for the title until the final stages of the Amgen Irish Open, a DP World Tour tournament won with 275 (71 68 71 65, -9) by the Danish Rasmus Hojgaard.
Manassero, results
On the Royal County Down GC course (par 71), in Newcastle in Northern Ireland, Hojgaard, 23 years old from Billund, twin brother of Nicolai, began his progression from the ninth hole (after a birdie and a bogey) and with seven birdies, three of which to close, against a bogey (65, -6), he made the comeback by overcoming in extremis the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, who had taken the lead in the third round, with Manassero one shot behind. The world number three, who seemed on the way to success, made two decisive errors (bogeys at the 15th and 17th) leaving the way open to his opponent with a partial 69 (-2, five birdies, three bogeys) for a total of 276 (-8) valid only for second place.
Rasmus Hojgaard signed the fifth title on the circuit, where he had not won since last year (Made in HimmerLand in August), in the 105th race on the tour and received a check for 1,020,000 dollars on a prize pool of 6,000,000 dollars.
Matteo Manassero made a partial 69 (-2). After a difficult start (a birdie and two bogeys in four holes) he then recovered with three birdies, the last one at the 18th allowing him to remain alone in third position. In the Race To Dubai (order of merit) he returned to being the first of the Italians (9th) and can definitely aim for the ‘card’ for the next PGA Tour that will be assigned to the top 15 in the ranking.
The English Daniel Brown ranked fourth with 278 (-6), the Scots Robert MacIntyre and Grant Forrest ranked fifth with 280 (-4), the English Jordan Smith and the American Jimmy Walker ranked seventh with 281 (-3) and the Canadian Aaron Cockerill and the Finn Sami Valimaki ranked ninth with 282 (-2).
Of the other Italians, Filippo Celli finished 30th with 286 (68 72 72 74, +2), losing ground in the final after three good rounds. Further back are Andrea Pavan, 42nd with 288 (73 70 72 73, +4), and Renato Paratore, 45th with 289 (71 73 72 73, +5). Francesco Laporta, 69th with 145 (+3), Lorenzo Scalise, 81st with 146 (+4), and Edoardo Molinari, 137th with 151 (+9), made the cut.
The next event is the prestigious BMW PGA Championship, a Rolex Series event scheduled for September 19-22 at the Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, England.