McDowell shoots four sub-par rounds for first time in two years
Thongchai Jaidee. Picture: Getty Images
Graeme McDowell shots four sub-par rounds at a tournament for the first time in nearly two years in the Porsche European Open in Germany.
While he’s had one win and 13 Top-10s since he was third behind Dustin Johnson in the 2013 WGC HSBC Champions, the Portrush native will be reasonably happy that he dipped into the red four days in a row in his first start after a five-week break.
The world No 67 picked up €13,200 for his modest share of 36th in Bavaria and is still 70th in the Race to Dubai, more than €52,000 outside the Top 60 who qualify for the DP World Tour Championship.
Nevertheless, he followed a 68 with three 70s and made 17 birdies having struggled for any kind of consistency this year, falling from 15th in the world to 67th this week.
As Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee held off a strong challenge from Graeme Storm to capture his seventh European Tour title by one shot at Golf Resort Bad Griesbach, Damien McGrane followed opening rounds of 71, 67 and 71 with a 75 that eanred him €5,300 for a share of 60th.
McGrane, however, is 164th in the Race to Dubai and more than €110,000 outside the Top 110 who will have full playing rights for 2016.
As for the top of the leaderboard in Germany, Storm shot 67 to set the target at 16 under par but Jaidee, whose one shot advantage looked slender when his approach to the 18th hit the greenside hospitality, chipped up to eight feet and holed the putt for a bogey-free round of 67 and winning total of 17 under par.
Jaidee is only the second Asian player to win the European Open title, following Japan’s Isao Aoki, who won the title at Suningdale Golf Club in 1983.
It was his third victory on European soil following the 2012 ISPS Handa Wales Open and the 2014 Nordea Masters in Wales.
Storm had to settle for finishing runner up for the second time in the European Open, ten years after claiming the same position behind his close friend Kennie Ferrie at The K Club.
The Englishman, who lost in a play-off to David Lipksy in last year’s Omega European Masters, has the consolation of securing his European Tour card for next season, and after moving up to 66th position on the Race to Dubai, he has now set his sights on a place in November’s DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
Sweden’s Pelle Edberg finished third on 14 under par after a round of 69 with Australia’s Scott Hend a further shot back in fourth after a 65.
Another Swede, Rikard Karlberg, followed his maiden victory at last week’s 72° OPEN D'ITALIA presented by DAMIANI by closing with a round of 67 to share fifth place with Dane Lucas Bjerregaard (68) and Welshman Jamie Donaldson (70) on 12 under par.
Bernhard Langer, the two-time Masters Champion, finished as the leading German on eight under par. The 58 year old closed with a round of 69 for a share of 24th place at the course he co-designed.
Jaidee said: “It’s a very special week for me. It is the third time I have won outside of Asia, so I’m very excited about that and I’m happy to win this tournament. I’m feeling very confident at the moment. I didn’t make many mistakes this week – only one bogey all week. I played very nicely and 17 under is some score for me.”
Complete final round scores (par 71)
267 T Jaidee (Tha) 68 68 64 67,
268 G Storm (Eng) 65 67 69 67,
270 P Edberg (Swe) 67 71 63 69,
271 S Hend (Aus) 69 69 68 65,
272 R Karlberg (Swe) 68 71 66 67, R Fisher (Eng) 67 65 69 71, L Bjerregaard (Den) 68 68 68 68, J Donaldson (Wal) 67 68 67 70,
273 J Parry (Eng) 66 70 70 67, R Bland (Eng) 65 70 71 67, S Kjeldsen (Den) 66 70 67 70,
274 M Carlsson (Swe) 67 68 67 72, B Hebert (Fra) 64 72 68 70, M Korhonen (Fin) 70 67 68 69, D Fichardt (RSA) 65 69 70 70, P Uihlein (USA) 68 68 67 71, R Green (Aus) 65 72 70 67, J Morrison (Eng) 67 69 70 68,
275 C Schwartzel (RSA) 66 66 75 68, S Benson (Eng) 68 70 69 68, P Hanson (Swe) 68 70 66 71, B An (Kor) 68 65 73 69, S Wakefield (Eng) 69 70 68 68,
276 E Espana (Fra) 69 69 70 68, B Langer (Ger) 66 71 70 69, H Otto (RSA) 67 70 68 71, A Cañizares (Esp) 70 67 70 69, G Havret (Fra) 69 70 67 70, R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 67 69 70,
277 J Edfors (Swe) 66 68 70 73, J Luiten (Ned) 69 69 70 69, F Fritsch (Ger) 66 69 73 69, A Tadini (Ita) 68 69 67 73, J Walters (RSA) 67 68 71 71, L Slattery (Eng) 68 71 71 67,
278 P Mejow (Ger) 68 71 73 66, B Dredge (Wal) 68 70 68 72, G McDowell (Nir) 68 70 70 70, M Jiménez (Esp) 67 69 70 72, R Karlsson (Swe) 66 72 71 69, A Dodt (Aus) 70 68 71 69, L Jensen (Den) 68 70 67 73, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 70 68 71,
279 M Lundberg (Swe) 70 68 70 71, A Hansen (Den) 69 68 72 70, M Fraser (Aus) 69 69 71 70, M Ilonen (Fin) 69 66 67 77,
280 F Zanotti (Par) 70 68 69 73, M Kieffer (Ger) 68 68 71 73, O Fisher (Eng) 66 69 72 73,
281 C Paisley (Eng) 67 72 74 68, C Bouniol (Fra) 69 70 68 74, R McEvoy (Eng) 66 67 73 75, N Colsaerts (Bel) 72 66 73 70,
282 A Levy (Fra) 72 67 73 70, S Jamieson (Sco) 68 70 71 73, S Heisele (Ger) 70 67 73 72, B Evans (Eng) 68 70 77 67,
283 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 68 71 72 72,
284 K Ferrie (Eng) 70 67 72 75, P Whiteford (Sco) 67 72 70 75, M Nixon (Eng) 71 68 72 73, D McGrane (Irl) 71 67 71 75,
286 W Ormsby (Aus) 72 67 78 69,
288 A Choi (Can) 70 69 71 78,
290 R Finch (Eng) 66 72 75 77
