Rose wins in Turkey, closes on Euro No. 1 spot

ANTALYA, Nov 5, (AFP): Justin Rose moved closer to a second European Tour No. 1 title when success in the Turkish Airlines Open at Antalya, Turkey on Sunday earned the Englishman back-to-back victories for the first time.

Rose birdied three of his closing four holes in a final round six-under par 65 for a one stroke win at 18-under par tally on the Regnum Carya course.

The Rio Olympic champion and world No.6 went into the final day trailing by two shots but after a third birdie of his round at the ninth, Rose found himself among three sharing the lead at 14-under par.

South African Dylan Frittelli seized the clubhouse lead at 17-under par after a round of a seven-under par 64 that included seven birdies and with three of those at the 5th, 6th and 8th holes resulting from chip-in’s.

Rose then tied Frittelli with a fourmetre birdie at 16 ahead of holing a three-metre birdie at the last.

The win is Rose’s 10th European Tour success and comes just a week after he captured the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

“This is an incredibly sweet moment and it is like a bus as you wait ages for one and two turn-up at once,” he said smiling.

“Today was a different type of win but then they are all different in their own way, and to hole that birdie putt on 18 was special as a lot of tournaments I have won have been two putts on the 18th green.

“So, that was a really unique one for me to make a putt on the final hole that really counted and I was very happy to close it out.

“Actually, my mind went back to Augusta earlier this year as it was a similar length putt I had on the final green but thankfully this one went in this time and they are little moments you have to draw upon.”