Tom Watson outguns all the Irish bar Simon Thornton
Thomas Pieters. Picture: Getty Images
Simon Thornton could reflect on his best European Tour finish in more than a year and a cheque for €18,180. But there was little else positive for the Irish to take from the KLM Open.
As Belgium’s Thomas Pieters made it two victories in three weeks, edging out Lee Slattery in a tense final round and denying the Englishman a double of his own, Thornton closed with a two under 68 t to claimed joint 23nd place on 11 under and his best finish since he was 14th in Austria last year.
Three-time major winner Pádraig Harrington had 127 putts over the four rounds, using the blade 35 times as he closed with a one over 71 to finish 63rd of 68 for putting.
The Dubliner, 44, ended the week in 55th place on six under under par, one shot behind 66-year old Tom Watson, while Peter Lawrie ended the week on three under after a 69.
As far as the Race to Dubai goes, Kevin Phelan’s failed to make the cut means he drops out of the Top 110 to 111th by less thatn €6,000.
Lawrie is 121st and just under €23,000 behind 110th ranked Benjamin Herbert with Harrington 123rd and Thornton 215th.
Damien McGrane, disqualified for the third time this season after he failed to finish his second round, is now 167th in the standings.
The Kells man played in Pro-Am circuit in Killiney on Sunday instead and took top prize.
As for the KLM Open, Pieters posted a 19 under par total at Kennemer Golf and Country Club courtesy of a five under par 65 in the final round.
Winner of the D+D Czech Open in his last start, his score left last week’s M2M Russian Open winner Slattery needing to par the last to force a play-off.
Having found thick rough with his drive, Slattery had a putt from three feet to save par, but he missed, handing Pieters his second European Tour title and the €300,000 first prize.
Spaniard Eduardo De La took a share of second place thanks to a seven under par 63, while overnight co-leader Rafa Cabrera-Bello, also from Spain, signed off with a 71 to slip down to tied seventh.
Pieters becomes the first player to win in consecutive European Tour appearances since Rory McIlroy won the 2014 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and US PGA Championship.
KLM Open 2015, Final
261 T Pieters (Bel) 68 66 62 65,
262 E De La Riva (Esp) 66 66 67 63, L Slattery (Eng) 66 65 63 68,
263 F Zanotti (Par) 67 66 67 63,
264 M Madsen (Den) 64 67 66 67, E Pepperell (Eng) 67 66 67 64,
265 M Carlsson (Swe) 65 66 70 64, M Korhonen (Fin) 67 70 65 63, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 65 66 63 71,
266 P Lawrie (Sco) 61 71 63 71, W Ormsby (Aus) 61 68 68 69,
267 S Kjeldsen (Den) 64 64 71 68, D Howell (Eng) 68 69 63 67, A Cañizares (Esp) 68 66 68 65, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 67 64 69, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 67 67 65, B Evans (Eng) 68 67 65 67,
268 J Scrivener (Aus) 68 67 65 68, A Sullivan (Eng) 65 69 68 66, T Lewis (Eng) 69 65 65 69, M Nixon (Eng) 70 64 68 66, M Ilonen (Fin) 64 71 62 71,
269 R Dinwiddie (Eng) 67 70 70 62, Simon Thornton (Irl) 67 68 66 68, D Lipsky (USA) 66 71 69 63, G Bourdy (Fra) 68 66 67 68, A Johnston (Eng) 66 68 65 70, R Rock (Eng) 63 69 71 66, J Luiten (Ned) 63 71 68 67,
270 R Bland (Eng) 62 70 70 68, R Gonzalez (Arg) 69 68 67 66, D Horsey (Eng) 63 66 71 70, S Hend (Aus) 65 72 65 68, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 71 60 71 68, P Uihlein (USA) 69 66 69 66,
271 S Gallacher (Sco) 65 72 67 67, O Fisher (Eng) 68 68 69 66, M Ford (Eng) 66 69 69 67, J Morrison (Eng) 63 67 70 71, R Karlberg (Swe) 69 66 68 68,
272 B Hebert (Fra) 68 67 70 67, S Griffiths (Eng) 67 67 70 68, P Peterson (USA) 68 69 68 67, A Hansen (Den) 70 67 67 68, D Vancsik (Arg) 66 70 69 67, R Green (Aus) 67 64 68 73,
273 R Finch (Eng) 69 66 69 69, A Pavan (Ita) 67 70 69 67, R McEvoy (Eng) 71 63 70 69, W Besseling (Ned) 69 66 69 69, T Watson (USA) 69 68 68 68, D Brooks (Eng) 67 68 68 70, J Barnes (Eng) 67 64 68 74, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 68 66 70 69,
274 Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 71 65 67 71,
275 N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 65 72 69,
276 E Espana (Fra) 70 67 70 69, E Kofstad (Nor) 69 66 69 72, E Goya (Arg) 63 71 70 72, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 67 73 68, M Kaymer (Ger) 67 67 68 74,
277 Peter Lawrie (Irl) 68 69 71 69,
278 L Jensen (Den) 65 71 71 71, R Jacquelin (Fra) 67 70 71 70,
280 J Parry (Eng) 67 70 70 73,
281 D Gaunt (Aus) 70 67 70 74, L Bjerregaard (Den) 66 68 77 70, A Quiros (Esp) 67 65 77 72.
