GORDON BRAND JUNIOR HOLDS ANDY OLDCORN AT BAY TO WIN

GORDON BRAND Junior .... his Senior Tour title

         Picture by courtesy of Getty Images (c) 

REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS 
By SARAH GWYNN

Kirkcaldy-born Gordon Brand Junior claimed his second Senior Tour title with a final round four under par 68 in the WINSTONgolf Senior Open, on a day when another Scot, Andrew Oldcorn, threatened to steal the show with a sizzling 61.

Knowing Oldcorn had set the clubhouse target much earlier in the day thanks to a whopping 11 birdies, Brand Junior notched six birdies of his own - against two bogeys - to reach 12 under and seal a one stroke victory at WINSTONgolf in northern Germany. 

“It’s great because I’ve been playing awfully for the last year and a half,” said the 55 year old. “I haven’t had a top ten all season and my coach told me last week that I’m the best player on the range and the worst player on the course.

“Even after two 68s, I just wanted something to boost me forward, but I continued to play really well today and I managed to do it, despite Andy Oldcorn - or Bagpuss as we like to call him - giving us all a fright. 

“My best shot today was the pitch into the 16th. I’d just made a poor bogey in the 15th, so it was the perfect way to bounce back.

“I knew it was tight coming down the stretch – I always like to look at leaderboards and be aware of what I need to do – and I was pretty tense hitting the approach into the 18th. It’s a smelly shot over water against the breeze, so I was pleased to hit a good shot and two-putt. 

“I couldn’t be happier. When you get in the mix it’s great, but to finish it off is so satisfying.”

Oldcorn hailed it the best round of his career after threatening that elusive sub-60 score.

The Scotwas in the first group out – the final round was played as a U-draw – and jumped on the birdie train to be 11 under through 15. He narrowly missed birdie chances on the final three holes, but settled for the joint lowest round in the history of the Senior Tour.

“It’s the best round of my career, which spans nearly 30 years,” he said. “I’ve known in the last few weeks that a good score was coming, because I’ve been playing so well and putting so poorly. I didn’t think it would be as low as that.

“I got a tip from my wife on the phone last night for my putting, funnily enough, and it worked – although I had two tap-in birdies on the front nine.

“I wanted to get to 12 under down the stretch, but I just couldn’t do it. I had a really difficult lie with my third shot on the par five 17th, and I honestly don’t know how that putt for birdie at the last missed. It just died off to the left an inch from the hole.

“These days don’t come along very often and I wanted to make the most of it. I’m glad I did that, even though it was one short. Congratulations to Gordon for finishing off the job.”

Oldcorn was joined by Peter Fowler (66), Angel Franco (69) and DJ Russell (67) in a tie for second place.

 

FINAL SCORES

Par 216 (3x72)

204 G Brand Jnr (Sco) 68 68 68,

205 D Russell (Eng) 67 71 67, A Oldcorn (Sco) 73 71 61, A Franco (Par) 67 69 69,

206 P Golding (Eng) 70 67 69, P Eales (Eng) 72 67 67, P Fowler (Aus) 67 73 66, S Tinning (Den) 66 72 68,

207 B Cameron (Eng) 71 63 73, T Johnstone (Zim) 71 67 69,

209 B Ruangkit (Tha) 67 72 70, I Woosnam (Wal) 65 75 69, P Jonas (Can) 65 71 73, H Buhrmann (RSA) 67 73 69,

210 S Brown (Eng) 74 69 67, T Thelen (USA) 71 70 69, N Job (Eng) 73 67 70,

211 R Gibson (Can) 73 71 67,

212 S Luna (Esp) 70 71 71, M Martin (Esp) 71 70 71, M McLean (Eng) 70 70 72, M Harwood (Aus) 72 70 70,

213 J Spence (Eng) 66 73 74, M Cunning (USA) 74 67 72, G Brand (Eng) 72 72 69, P Wesselingh (Eng) 69 72 72, B Longmuir (Sco) 71 69 73, J Quiros (Esp) 68 72 73,

214 C Mason (Eng) 74 72 68, W Grant (Eng) 76 67 71, G Manson (Aut) 72 72 70, S Van Vuuren (RSA) 69 73 72, M James (Eng) 76 69 69, D O'Sullivan (Irl) 73 69 72, M Kuramoto (Jpn) 72 71 71,

215 P Walton (Irl) 71 70 74, C Williams (RSA) 73 74 68, J Bruner (USA) 73 71 71, A Sherborne (Eng) 73 70 72,

216 J Harrison (Eng) 73 70 73, J Gould (Eng) 73 71 72, E Darcy (Irl) 71 74 71, L Carbonetti (Arg) 72 73 71, G Wolstenholme (Eng) 73 73 70,

217 K Spurgeon (Eng) 77 66 74, R Thompson (USA) 71 73 73, J Rivero (Esp) 73 71 73,

218 P Linhart (Esp) 73 72 73, R Drummond (Sco) 74 73 71, D Hospital (Esp) 76 69 73,

219 M Farry (Fra) 73 74 72, S Cipa (Eng) 78 71 70, S Bennett (Eng) 72 73 74, M Piñero (Esp) 74 72 73, T Price (Aus) 70 72 77, J Carriles (Esp) 76 73 70,

220 G Ralph (Eng) 71 73 76, J Lindberg  (Swe) 74 69 77, C Rocca (Ita) 74 73 73,

221 P Mitchell (Eng) 74 74 73, G Ryall (Eng) 72 73 76,

222 T Elliott (Aus) 77 70 75,

223 N Ratcliffe (Aus) 72 74 77,

224 G Banister (Aus) 74 74 76,

225 G Norquist (USA) 75 73 77,

226 Z Martinez (USA) 74 75 77,

227 T Giedeon (Ger) 79 75 73,

230 J Laforce (Can) 76 76 78,

231 D James (Sco) 79 80 72, D Durnian (Eng) 76 78 77, D Smyth (Irl) 75 76 80,

240 H Francis (Eng) 82 78 80,

 

 

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS