PÁDRAIG GOES THE DISTANCE
IRELAND’S Pádraig Harrington needed to eagle the last to force a play-off but made par and had to settle for fourth place on 16 under, as Justin Rose pulled off a second extraordinary comeback in the space of eight days to fly off with the Turkish Airlines Open title yesterday. Harrington’s efforts earned him a cheque of €296,003, his biggest since winning the Portugal Masters last year.
‘I gave it three good chances in the last three holes, had three good looks at them,’ said Harrington. ‘Another day I would have made the birdies coming home, but I’m just happy to be in that position. I’m really happy with my ball striking, big improvement off the tee for me which is very important. I have been struggling, so that is a positive. I look forward to doing what I am doing with my game at the moment and can’t wait to get to Sun City.’
Rose, really is becoming a spe- cialist in these lucrative heists, having followed his improbable €1.4m win in China the previous weekend with an €986,000 jackpot in this one.
This time it was a little less dramatic, but perhaps even more impressive because there was no collapse from a rival to help the fightback.
In China, he had the benefit of Dustin Johnson coughing up a six-stroke lead in the final nine holes; here, he was nine shots off the pace after two rounds and not a single one of those in front had a serious capitulation over the weekend. That he got the job done was purely down to his slow, systematic weathering of the course and field, with the world No 6 first fighting his way to contention and then, finally, to the top. Indeed, he did not hold even a share of the lead at any point until the 66th of 72 holes and only held it outright for the first time when he got to 17 under on the 70th.
But even then he was pegged back, with Dylan Frittelli and Nicolas Colsaerts tying his lead with one hole to go, before a Rose birdie on the last — his third in four holes — took him to 18 under and settled it. His final two rounds of 64 and yesterday’s 65 were a combined 13 under par, an extraordinary weekend. It is fascinating to think the 37year-old had not won anywhere since taking gold at the Rio Olympics, but has now won twice in succession from unenviable positions. The question is whether his penchant for successful comebacks will extend to the Race To Dubai, which has been blown open. England’s Tommy Fleetwood was more than €2.7m ahead a fortnight ago and now has a margin of below €140,000 with two events to go in the European season. Fleetwood’s advantage is that Rose is sticking to his original plan of not playing in South Africa next week, but he will return for the cash-heavy finale in Dubai. The decision could cost Rose a second Order of Merit crown a decade after his first, but he has decided to join his family in the Bahamas.
Shane Lowry tied for eighth, admitting ‘I never got it going.’ His challenge ended on the 15th when his approach hit a wall and ran into the lake. He added: ‘It is still a good week’s work. I wasn’t that great off the tee. But when I hit it in play my iron play feels so good, so I have three days to sort that out before (Sun City).’
Paul Dunne’s challenge also petered out with a 72, tying for 23rd, leaving him 14th in the Race for Dubai table.