Victory in Italy for Austrian

BERND Wiesberger held off the challenge of England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick to claim his third win of the season at the Italian Open.

The Austrian carded a bogey-free 65 in Rome to overturn a t hree-shot deficit and beat overnight leader Fitzpatrick by one.

Fitzpatrick had started the day with a one-shot lead but a double-bogey on the ninth proved costly.

The Yorkshireman picked up three shots on the back nine to finish but could only par the last after leaving himself 35 feet for a birdie that would have moved him to 15 under and into a play-off.

“To l ose by one is obviously very disappointing,” he said.

“It is what it is. It’s still a great week, I’m here to win and not here to just make up the numbers.”

Wiesberger made a hattrick of birdies from the fifth and added another on the ninth to share the lead before Fitzpatrick’s error left him two ahead.

Excellent tee-shots on the 14th and 16th handed him two more birdies and a 16-under total.

Wiesberger, 34, missed the last seven months of the 2018 season with a wrist injury but now sits at the top of the Race to Dubai and has a flying start in his quest to make a Ryder Cup debut in 2020.

“I t ’s b e e n a g r e a t summer for me,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of good golf shown and a lot of progress after coming back from the last year.”

American Kurt Kitayama was 12 under, a shot clear of England’s Andrew Johnston, Scot Robert MacIntyre and Austria’s Matthias Schwab.

Bernd Wiesberger.