Harrington wins Portugal Masters - his first 

victory in eight years


FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Irishman Padraig Harrington claimed his first European Tour title in eight years as he held off the challenge of defending champion Andy Sullivan at the Portugal Masters.
The three-time Major Championship winner's last triumph on Tour was his 2008 win at the US PGA Championship and he showed all his experience under pressure in a closing bogey-free 65 to get to 23 under.
That was one shot better than Sullivan who also closed his week at Victoria Clube de Golfe, Vilamoura with a 65, and two better than the semi-retired Dane, Anders Hansen, and Finn Mikko Korhonen - who secured his playing privileges after starting the week 116th on the Race to Dubai.
The victory takes Harrington's European Tour tally to 15 wins and moves him alongside Thomas Bjørn at 15th on the all-time list.

"I haven't won yet this year, so I know the year is nearly done, it's always important to get a win every year, a winning year," he said.
"It's a big win. Portugal Masters is a big tournament. I've been coming here for ten years so I've always liked it down here. I've always liked coming down to Portugal.
"There's so many Irish people here. It always felt like a home away from home, so it's really nice to win the tournament.
"I tried to be really aggressive. The golf course suited me and I just tried to go after every pin I could and make birdies. I have a pretty good short game that was on form this week. No matter where I hit it, I felt like I could get it up and down."
Englishman Sullivan was attempting to become the first man to successfully defend the title while Denmark's Hansen - who retired at this event last season and was making just his fifth 2016 appearance -  was looking to claim his first win since 2009.
Korhonen needed to finish in the top 26 to have a chance getting into the top 111 on the Race to Dubai and keep his card and he did that in style, with Australian Jason Scrivener and Englishman Oliver Fisher - who started the week at 113th and 114th respectively - also keeping their cards.
Scot Craig Lee and England's Eddie Pepperell had missed the cut and they were the men to drop out of the top 111 along with Zander Lombard who was not playing this week.
English duo Robert Rock and Chris Paisley finished at 20 under alongside Scot Paul Lawrie and American David Lipsky, with Spaniard Nacho Elvira a further shot back.
Fisher and Frenchman Benjamin Hebert then closed out the top ten at 18 under.
Sullivan made a stunning start, birdieing four of his first five holes to get to 20 under, while Korhonen birdied the second and fourth and when Hansen had gains on the fourth and fifth, there was a three-way tie at the top.
A brilliant bunker shot from Harrington helped set up a birdie on the second but when Hansen made a third birdie in a row on the sixth, the Irishman found himself three shots off the lead.
He cut that gap to two with a birdie on the seventh and then holed an exquisite bunker shot on the 11th before following it with another birdie on the 12th. Sullivan had also taken advantage of the par five and once again, there were three players at the top of the leaderboard.
Harrington spun his approach on the 14th back to five feet to move ahead but Sullivan took an aggressive line over the water on the 17th and joined him at 22 under.
A third birdie of the week on the penultimate hole followed from Harrington, however, and he parred the last to claim a dramatic victory.
Korhonen had dropped a shot on the seventh but made two birdies on the back nine while Hansen finished his round with 12 pars.
+Picture of Padraig Harrington with the championship trophy by courtesy of Getty Images(c)

FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZEMONEY
 Par 284 (4x71)

1 HARRINGTON Padraig IRL  66 63 67 65  261 € 333,330

2 SULLIVAN Andy ENG  67 61 69 65 262  € 222,220

T3 HANSEN Anders DEN 67 66 62 68 263 € 112,600

T3 KORHONEN Mikko FIN  64 67 64 68 263 € 112,600

T5 LAWRIE Paul SCO 66 66 65 67 264 € 66,200

T5 LIPSKY David USA  64 66 69 65 264  € 66,200

T5 5 PAISLEY Chris ENG  65 67 65 67 264 € 66,200

T5 ROCK Robert ENG 67 66 67 64  264 € 66,200

9 ELVIRA Nacho ESP 65 67 67 66 265  € 44,800

T10 FISHER Oliver ENG 66 67 69 64 266 € 38,400

T10 HEBERT Benjamin FRA 70 66 66 64 266  € 38,400 

T12 BJERREGAARD Lucas DEN 67 67 70 63 267 € 30,960 

T12 FAHRBRING Jens SWE 65 64 70 68 267 € 30,960

T12 GALLACHER Stephen SCO  67 68 64 68 267  € 30,960 

T12 KHAN Simon ENG 69 67 64 67 267 € 30,960 

T12 WARREN Marc SCO 63 65 70 69  267 € 30,960 

T17 LAGERGREN Joakim SWE 66 66 68 68 268 € 24,960 

T17 SCRIVENER Jason AUS 68 66 67 67 268 € 24,960 

T17 SHINKWIN Callum ENG 64 68 67 69 268  € 24,960 

T17 SOUTHGATE Matthew ENG 68 67 66 67 268  € 24,960

T17 WALTERS Justin RSA 67 66 71 64  268  € 24,960 

T22 GOUVEIA Ricardo POR 66 68 68 67 269  € 20,800

T22 HORSEY David ENG  68 67 66 68 269 € 20,800 

T22 JACQUELIN Raphaël FRA 66 65 70 68  269 € 20,800 

T22 McEVOY Richard ENG 71 67 67 64 269 € 20,800 

T22 RUMFORD Brett AUS 67 66 69 67 269  € 20,800

T22 STORM Graeme ENG 68 66 68 67 269 € 20,800 

T22 WARING Paul ENG 67 64 72 66 269 € 20,800 

T29 HANSON Peter SWE  68 68 68 66  270  18,100 

T29 LEWIS Tom ENG 71 65 68 66 270 € 18,100
T31 CAÑIZARES Alejandro ESP 65 70 67 69 271 € 15,800
T31 COETZEE George RSA 66 68 69 68 271 € 15,800
T31 JENSEN Lasse DEN 66 70 67 68  271 € 15,800
T31 PIETERS Thomas BEL 69 69 68 65 271 € 15,800
T31 QUIROS Alvaro ESP 69 69 68 65 271  € 15,800
T31 RAMSAY Richie SCO  71 61 69 70 271 € 15,800
T37 AIKEN Thomas RSA 67 68 69 68 272  € 13,000
T37 FISHER jun Trevor RSA 69 63 68 72 272  € 13,000
T37 FLEETWOOD Tommy ENG 67 68 68 69 272 € 13,000
T37 HANSEN Joachim B. DEN 68 70 65 69 272  € 13,000
T37 LINARD Thomas FRA 71 65 67 69 272 € 13,000
T37 NOREN Alex SWE 67 67 68 70 272 € 13,000
T37 WALL Anthony ENG 69 68 68 67 272 € 13,000
T44 AGUILAR Felipe CHI 71 67 67 68 273 € 10,400
T44 CAMPILLO Jorge ESP 69 64 68 72 273 € 10,400
T44 DRYSDALE David SCO 69 65 69 70 273  € 10,400
T44 DYSON Simon ENG 67 65 71 70 273  € 10,400
T44 FRITSCH Florian GER  70 68 67 68  273 € 10,400
T44 KARLSSON Robert SWE 71 62 70 70  273 € 10,400

OTHER SELECTED TOTAL
T50 JAMIESON Scott SCO 69 64 71 70 274 € 7,109

Welsh 1-2 as Dodd scores first European 

Senior Tour victory

FROM THE EUROPEAN SENIOR TOUR WEBSITE
Welshman Stephen Dodd held his nerve at Golf Club Udine to win the 2016 Senior Italian Open by one shot from compatriot Phillip Price.
In just his seventh event on the European Senior Tour, the 50 year old Dodd  went into the final day nine under par after rounds of 69-64 and held on in testing conditions, carding a level par final round of 71.
The three-time European Tour winner, who made his Senior Tour debut at the Senior Open Championship in July, started his round with a birdie to move to ten under par but made three bogeys before the turn and another on the par four tenth hole.
He rallied on the back nine as he made birdie on the 13th hole and then took the lead after a gain on the 16th.

A sublime second shot to the 18th green left him a 15 foot putt for birdie which he duly converted to take home his first Senior Tour title.
“It was a bit strange really,” said Dodd. “I didn’t play too badly on the front nine, I just missed a lot of putts. But I had a decent finish which put me over the line, thankfully.
“I hit a lot of good shots but missed everything I looked at. That was the problem, but then I holed a nice one on the last when it really mattered.
 “I didn’t realise my birdie on 16 put me in the lead. There wasn’t a scoreboard there so I didn’t know.”
Dodd also becomes the ninth player to win on the European Challenge Tour, European Tour and Senior Tour. He won on the Challenge Tour in 1992, and secured three European Tour titles, his last in 2006.
“It’s nice to do that and to get a win so early in my career on the Senior Tour," he said. "One of my goals at the start of the year was win this season and I’ve achieved that. It’s a big confidence boost for me and I can now look forward to next year.”
Price, one of the heroes of Europe’s 2002 Ryder Cup side, made his Senior Tour debut this week after turning 50 on the day of the first round. The Welshman carded a one under par final round of 70 to take sole ownership of second place.
In third place were the pair of Magnus P Atlevi and André Bossert, winners earlier in the year at the Paris Legends Championship and Travis Perkins Masters, and Argentina’s Cesar Monasterio rounded out the top five after finishing six under par.
Austria’s Fife-born Gordon Manson carded the best round of the afternoon, a five under par 66, to finish in sixth place alongside England’s Barry Lane and Welshman Mark Mouland.

LEADING TOTALS AND PRIZEMONEY
 Par 213 (3x71)
 

1 DODD Stephen WAL  69 64 71  204 € 52,500

 2 PRICE Phillip WAL  71 64 70 205  € 35,000

T3 ATLEVI Magnus P SWE 69 67 70  206 € 21,875 

T3 BOSSERT André SWI  68 68 70  206  € 21,875 

5 MONASTERIO Cesar ARG 67 70 70 207 € 15,855 

T6 LANE Barry ENG 67 70 71 208 € 12,600 

T6 MANSON Gordon AUT/Sco 72 70 66  208 € 12,600

T6 MOULAND Mark WAL 72 67 69  208 € 12,600 

T9 BROWN Simon P ENG 67 68 74 209 € 9,100

T9 GOLDING Philip ENG  69 70 70  209 € 9,100

T9 SHERBORNE Andrew ENG 69 70 70 209 € 9,100

 

SCOTS' SCORES

T14 DRUMMOND Ross SCO 71 72 68  211 € 6,125 

T20 OLDCORN Andrew SCO 72 71 70  213 € 4,270 

T56 BRAND JNR Gordon SCO 73 76 81  230 € 1,190

Russell Knox T10 finish behind Thomas, winner for second year in a row

 

Kuala Lumpur: American Justin Thomas defended his CIMB Classic title in style after a sparkling eight-under-par 64 gave him a three-shot victory at TPC Kuala Lumpur today.

The 23-year-old Thomas took advantage of overnight leader Anirban Lahiri’s disastrous start in the final round when the Indian ran up a quadruple bogey 9 on the par five third hole which wiped out his overnight four-shot lead.

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama carded a bogey-free 66 to finish runner-up while Lahiri, who battled to a 72, settled for equal third place with American Derek Fathauer in the US$7 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and US PGA Tour.

Thomas, who birdied his closing five holes on Saturday to stay in contention, enjoyed a fast start by picking up four shots over his opening five holes before turning in 31. He also birdied 10 and subsequently coasted home to a second US PGA Tour victory with further birdies on 16 and 17.

“It was obviously a fun day. It couldn't have happened if it wasn't for my finish yesterday. That was huge for me and put me in a good position to have a chance to win. I definitely owe a lot of it to that,” said Thomas, who totalled 23-under-par 265 for the week and earned US$1.26 million.

Florida-based Russell Knox from Inverness tied for 10th place on 275, the same total as Adam Scott and others, after a disappointing final round of 74, easily his highest of the four.

Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter finished a shot behind Knox.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 288 (4x72) Yardage: 7,005

265 - Justin THOMAS (USA) 64-66-71-64.

268 - Hideki MATSUYAMA (JPN) 69-64-69-66.

269 - Derek FATHAUER (USA) 64-70-68-67, Anirban LAHIRI (IND) 66-66-65-72.

271 - Marc LEISHMAN (AUS) 69-65-71-66.

272 - Keegan BRADLEY (USA) 64-72-68-68.

273 - Scott HEND (AUS) 74-69-63-67, Tyrone VAN ASWEGEN (RSA) 69-70-66-68.

274 - James HAHN (USA) 69-64-69-72.

275 - Siwoo KIM (KOR) 70-66-73-66, Aaron BADDELEY (AUS) 67-71-69-68, Rafa CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 69-67-69-70, Adam SCOTT (AUS) 70-69-66-70, Ryo ISHIKAWA (JPN) 69-68-68-70, Scott PIERCY (USA) 68-68-67-72, Russell KNOX (SCO) 70-63-68-74.

276 - Ian POULTER (ENG) 71-69-69-67, Ryan MOORE (USA) 71-65-70-70, Sergio GARCIA (ESP) 67-72-67-70, Emiliano GRILLO (ARG) 74-65-66-71.

277 - Younghan SONG (SKOR) 70-69-72-66, Patrick RODGERS (USA) 70-68-69-70, Paul CASEY (ENG) 65-72-70-70, Adam HADWIN (CAN) 71-69-67-70, Sunghoon KANG (SKOR) 70-69-68-70.

278 - Kevin KISNER (USA) 68-70-70-70, Zac BLAIR (USA) 70-66-69-73, Brendan STEELE (USA) 67-69-69-73.