Marco Who? stuns Langer and Monty down
home straight at Sunningdale
Marco Dawson, Senior Open Champion 2015. Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c)
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
American
Marco Dawson produced a stunning back nine fightback to storm to
victory in The Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex, overcoming
European Ryder Cup legends Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie at Sunningdale.
The
51 year old, whose best finish in 413 events on the US PGA Tour was
runner up in the 1995 Greater Milwaukee Open, sank a dramatic and
decisive 18ft birdie putt on the last hole for a round of six-under 64 to finish
one shot clear of defending champion Langer, who also closed with a 64,
while Montgomerie was a further two shots back.
It
proved to be a fascinating final round with
Montgomerie seemingly in control for much of the afternoon following an
impressive four under par front nine of 31.
The
2010 European Ryder Cup captain moved three shots clear of Dawson on
the tenth hole after Dawson made his third bogey of the round
immediately after the turn following an outward nine of 33, which
included an eagle on the ninth.
But
fortune swung in Dawson’s favour when Montgomerie made back-to-back
bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes and the American birdied both holes.
That
reignited his title bid and he moved to the top of the leaderboard in
spectacular fashion courtesy of the second eagle of his round on the
14th hole, after Langer had previously moved serenely into pole position
with five birdies in his opening 12 holes.
It
then came down to a battle between those two over the closing holes,
and Dawson’s long birdie putt on the last meant that when Langer holed
his own ten foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, it was only to reduce the
margin of victory to a single shot.
Langer,
therefore, narrowly missed out on a record-equalling third Senior Open
title, following his dominant 13 shot victory at Royal Porthcawl last
year, but for Dawson it was an emotional maiden Senior Major
Championship, after only capturing his first title on the US Champions
Tour in March.
“This
is unbelievable,” said Dawson, who finished 16 under par for the
Championship. “I can't tell you how many hours I put in on the range,
and I've had two back surgeries to prove it. I've spent a lot of time on
the range and on the putting green over the years, and you know, it's a
little later than most of the guys, but it came true.”
“I
had a lot of fun last year. I wasn't expecting a lot but things started
to happen and I started getting more and more confident. And then I won
earlier this year, which gave me a lot of confidence through the rest
of the season.
"And when I got to this point two days ago, and I had a
good first round and a good second, I thought, okay, maybe this is going
to happen again. I said we'll just keep on making the swings and try
and make the putts. That's what it comes down to. I just made one more
putt than Bernhard.”
Dawson’s victory also means he qualifies for next year’s Open
Championship at Royal Troon, which will be his first appearance in
golf’s oldest Major.
“Isn't
that nice?” he said “So I'll be here two weeks next year. Great. I love
that. I love the way the game is played over here. I love that you can
play it on the ground, in the air. There's so many options, so many more
options than we have in the States.
“Most
of the play over there is in the air. Unfortunately it was wet this
week. The first two days were very bouncy and you see a lot of balls run
a lot. It's a lot of fun playing golf like that.”
Langer
continued his remarkable record in the Senior Open, finishing runner up
for the second time after losing a play-off to Mark Wiebe in 2013,
having finished no worse than 12th in eight appearances.
“It
was an exciting week,” said the two-time Masters Champion. “It's very
befitting of the venue and the tournament. We had a great leaderboard,
lots of good players up there, and a few lead changes as the day went
by.
“Marco
just played phenomenally. Things went for him; he holed a bunker shot
and he made two eagles, and leapfrogged both Monty and I. And he made an
amazing put on 18 to make sure I couldn't tie him.
“The three of us were always fairly close together
and it just came down to who plays the last, eight or ten holes the
best, and Marco did that.”
Montgomerie birdied the 14th
hole but could just not make any putts on the closing four holes to
close the gap on Dawson, as his bid for a fourth Senior Major title
ultimately ran out of steam. His round of 67 and 13 under par total
meant he had to settle for third place, having finished a distant
runner-up to Langer in Wales last year.
Spaniard Miguel Angel Jiménez produced some fireworks of his own with an eagle on the 14th
hole, but like Montgomerie that was his final gain of the round and his
closing round of 67 left him five shots back on 11 under par in fourth
place.
Complete final round scores
par 280 (4x70)
264 M Dawson (USA) 65 67 68 64,
265 B Langer (Ger) 65 68 68 64,
267 C Montgomerie (Sco) 67 67 66 67,
269 M Jiménez (Esp) 65 69 68 67,
272 F Couples (USA) 68 66 69 69, W Austin (USA) 69 67 70 66,
273 J Maggert (USA) 71 67 66 69, P Walton (Irl) 71 67 65 70,
274 E Toledo (Mex) 73 68 68 65, J Sluman (USA) 65 69 70 70, P Fowler (Aus) 69 65 68 72,
275 B Bryant (USA) 65 70 70 70, B Lane (Eng) 68 70 68 69, P Senior (Aus) 69 67 70 69,
276 B Henninger (USA) 66 73 67 70, D Waldorf (USA) 69 68 69 70, L Zhang (Chn) 65 71 72 68, T Watson (USA) 67 72 66 71,
277 S Dunlap (USA) 70 72 68 67, B Andrade (USA) 67 73 67 70, K Sutherland (USA) 72 69 66 70,
278 S Ames (Can) 69 67 69 73, T Lehman (USA) 69 69 70 70, M Martin (Esp) 70 70 68 70,
279 K Triplett (USA) 68 69 69 73, M Allen (USA) 65 71 71 72, S
Tinning (Den) 69 70 68 72, M Brooks (USA) 68 73 70 68, A Bossert (Sui)
71 71 70 67, S McCarron (USA) 71 67 72 69,
280 M McNulty (Irl) 68 73 73 66, R Cochran (USA) 70 70 67 73, P O'Malley (Aus) 68 71 71 70,
281 F Funk (USA) 70 71 67 73, P Goydos (USA) 67 69 74 71, F Quinn
(USA) 73 70 70 68, M Kuramoto (Jpn) 70 70 68 73, J Durant (USA) 68 72 68
73, J Spence (Eng) 74 68 68 71,
282 K Idoki (Jpn) 69 73 68 72, R Mediate (USA) 70 73 69 70, L Janzen
(USA) 65 70 70 77, J Blake (USA) 71 72 71 68, J Remesy (Fra) 69 72 70
71, C Monasterio (Arg) 66 72 71 73, G Rusnak (USA) 70 68 68 76,
283 W Short Jr (USA) 67 76 69 71, S Jones (USA) 70 69 72 72, T Pernice Jnr (USA) 68 71 72 72, J Hart (USA) 67 72 72 72,
284 R Drummond (Sco) 71 70 68 75, M Calcavecchia (USA) 67 68 74 75, G
Sauers (USA) 69 71 72 72, S Lyle (Sco) 70 73 71 70, J Parnevik (Swe) 73
69 69 73, L Tenbroeck (USA) 69 72 70 73, G Brand Jnr (Sco) 69 69 70 76,
285 G Bruckner (USA) 69 69 72 75, M Wiebe (USA) 70 70 72 73, J Pate (USA) 72 69 70 74, R Sabarros (Fra) 71 68 75 71,
286 B Davidson (Sco) 72 71 73 70, S Okuda (Jpn) 70 73 68 75, G
Wolstenholme (Eng) 69 73 71 73, J Smith (USA) 70 70 71 75, I Woosnam
(Wal) 69 69 74 74,
287 R Spittle (Can) 69 73 73 72, D Mast (USA) 72 69 71 75, A Oldcorn
(Sco) 76 67 71 73, T Thelen (USA) 70 71 71 75, D Frost (RSA) 68 71 71
77,
288 G Turner (Nzl) 70 73 69 76, C Williams (RSA) 69 73 70 76,
289 O Browne (USA) 70 71 71 77,
290 S Torrance (Sco) 69 70 73 78, B Cameron (Eng) 67 76 75 72, M Mouland (Wal) 66 75 78 71,
291 J Rivero (Esp) 69 74 76 72,
293 M Farry (Fra) 70 73 76 74,
294 R Backwell (Aus) 73 69 76 76, P Linhart (Esp) 71 72 75 76,
** A Forsbrand (Swe) 69 74 77 WD, M O'Meara (USA) 68 75 RT 0,
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