Justin Rose of England produced a superb final round of 65 to win the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen by two strokes from Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg.
Justin Rose of England produced a superb final round of 65 to win the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen by two strokes from Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg.
Rose began the last round in a tie for the lead with Marc Warren of Scotland on 10-under-par, but the Englishman quickly opened up a gap at the top with birdies at four of his first six holes. He added further birdies at the ninth and 12th holes before playing some extremely solid golf to maintain the advantage he had built.
Despite a valiant effort from Broberg, who came close to a hole-in-one on the 17th hole, Rose was able to hold on for the victory.
“This is my first professional win in Scotland so it means lot,” said Rose. “This a great tournament - there’s definitely something special about playing golf up here and the golfing crowd are so knowledgeable and I’ve really got to love this golf course.”
Broberg reduced the deficit to just two shots with his birdie two at the 17th and, when Rose missed the 16th green leaving an extremely awkward pitch, it looked as though the tournament could still swing at the death.
But, displaying nerves of steel, Rose flopped his third shot over a greenside bunker from a poor lie. The ball landed softly and rolled up to just three feet from the cup. He then confidently holed out for par.
“The 16th was the key,” he said. “I looked at the leaderboard and I was only two ahead and felt I was bound to make bogey there. Getting it up-and-down was the key to the win.”
Although Broberg came up just short, he could console himself with the fact that, along with a cheque for over €400,000, he had earned himself a start at next week’s Open Championship. The others to take the final qualifying spots for Hoylake were England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Scott Jamieson of Scotland.
Marc Warren of Scotland battled hard over the closing 18 holes but wasn’t able to hole enough putts to mount a challenge. In the end, he did well to finish alone in third.
Another Scot, Stephen Gallacher, produced a course record-equalling 63 to charge up the leaderboard and end the week in a tie for fourth.
Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open Royal Aberdeen, Scotland Jul 10-13, purse €3,800,000, par 71
1 Justin Rose (Eng) 69 68 66 65 268 €627,020 2 Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 65 71 68 66 270 €418,009 3 Marc Warren (Sco) 67 69 67 70 273 €235,508 T4 Stephen Gallacher (Sco) 72 69 70 63 274 €148,039 T4 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 69 72 68 65 274 €148,039 T4 Shane Lowry (Ire) 72 68 68 66 274 €148,039 T4 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 69 71 66 68 274 €148,039 T8 Scott Jamieson (Sco) 74 67 70 64 275 €84,522 T8 Rickie Fowler (USA) 71 71 68 65 275 €84,522 T8 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 71 67 66 275 €84,522
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage
