Edoardo Molinari holds off Darren Clarke to land Scottish Open

Published on Sunday 11 July 2010 21:02

THE majority of the players in the field saw their hopes washed away by a morning deluge. Darren Clarke's title bid in the £3 million Barclays Scottish Open disappeared in a different watery grave at Loch Lomond.

• Edoardo Molinari savoured the moment yesterday, describing his maiden victory on the European Tour as 'a dream day'. Picture: Jane Barlow

For three days the big Ulsterman, bidding for his first win for nearly two years, had hardly put a foot wrong but it had disaster written all over it the second Clarke stepped into the water in a pond beside the third green.

The said water hazard wasn't even there when Clarke finished second in this event in 2003 and then again in 2005, but it's claimed its fair share of victims over the last few years. The same day even. Alvaro Quiros and Peter Hedblom had both found the exact spot in the hour before Clarke arrived on the scene. Going for the green with his second, the 41-year-old watched in anguish as it ran up the bank before toppling back down again to nestle in the water. According to a marshall, it landed in the divot left by Hedblom as the Swede ran up a 7.

After surveying the situation, Clarke pulled on his waterproof trousers and gave it a swipe, probably more in hope than anything else. The ball moved but only just and, what's more, was now in a muddy lie still inside the hazard. His next attempt got up the bank a bit before running back down and, with a 7 eventually going down on the card, three days of good work had virtually been undone in three minutes. "I thought I could get it out, but it cost me the chance of winning the tournament," he reflected later. "But, if I was there again, I would do exactly the same thing and have another go at it."

Clarke had arrived at the hole still trailing Edoardo Molinari by a shot, the state of play at the start of the day after the 29-year-old Italian had stormed to the top of the leaderboard on the back of a breathtaking eight-under-par 63 on Saturday, but the gap between him and the leader was suddenly four shots.

As his main rival for the title endured his water torture, Molinari got up and down from a greenside bunker to make a birdie, a feat he repeated at the next, though on this occasion it was to salvage his par.

When Clarke then three-putted the fifth, his body language had changed from earlier in the week and, at that point, his main concern appeared to be making sure he sealed second place to secure an Open Championship berth as the leader already knew he was heading for St Andrews.

Mike Stewart, the tournament director, had been anticipating "an hour from hell" in the morning due to the weather but it turned foul for a lot longer than that. As a result, any hope the early starters had of shooting a low score quickly disappeared. They might have been able to cope if it had just been wet again but, out of nowhere, the wind whipped up and brought carnage all over the course.

Alejandro Canizares, for instance, might have had a spring in his step after starting with three straight birdies but the young Spaniard's card for the rest of the front nine looked as though it had been compiled by a hacker in a club medal. His figures from the fourth read 6-4-7-6-4-5, a run that saw him spill nine shots. He eventually signed for an 80 and probably couldn't get out of the place quick enough.

Due to the combination of inclement weather on most days and, of course, the small matter of a special Open Championship being held on the other side of the country this week, the crowds at Loch Lomond were quite a bit down going into the final day and Clarke's adventures at the third appeared to have killed any hopes of the diehards witnessing a dramatic conclusion.

On a day when preferred lies were in operation for the first time this week, Molinari did his best to give Clarke and the others chasing him, including his younger brother Francesco, a glimmer of hope when he dropped shots at both the sixth and seventh. He was out in 38 to Clarke's 40 and on any other day they'd probably have had somebody breathing down their necks after coming out of the pack.

By the time the rain had stopped and the wind had reduced from a zephyr to a swirling breeze, however, the damage had been done and Molinari, who had been majestic the previous afternoon, appeared to be strolling to his maiden European Tour victory without the pressure he'd surely have expected on such a momentous occasion.

A birdie at the 14th put him five ahead again, but then a real moment of crisis caused by a wayward tee shot into heavy rough at the 15th. He started thinking about the time he'd blown a three-shot lead in a Challenge Tour event and was pleased to escape with a double-bogey 6. "It could have been any number but I was lucky enough to find a spot where nine times out of ten I could hit it out," he said.

A closing 74 gave him a 12-under total of 272, winning by three shots. "It was a dream day," said the new champion as he savoured a success that saw the Molinaris become only the third brothers after the Garridos (Antonio and German) and the Ballesteros (Seve and Manuel) to win on the European Tour.

"When we teed off and it was so windy I thought I didn't have any chance against Darren because he's a great player when the conditions are like that. After getting off to a good start, I tried to play conservative golf and on a difficult day I was proud and happy about the way I played," Molinari added.

For Clarke, the consolation for missing out on this title for the third time was that cherished spot at St Andrews. "I desperately wanted to win here after coming so close in the past, but I got off to a horrible start and was on the back foot early on," said the 41-year-old. "However, going to St Andrews is a nice consolation prize."

The younger Molinari, who was playing in the same group as his brother and Clarke, never got into the mix as he shot a 72, with the only significant move of the whole day, really, being made by Stephen Gallacher. Playing with two of the game's big hitters in John Daly and Alvaro Quiros, the 34-year-old was unquestionably the star of the trio on this particular day.

Like so many others, he dropped a shot early on but, as Daly was running up a 7 and 8 back-to-back, the Scot was maintaining the brilliant form that has lit up his season since he finished in a tie for fourth in the BMW PGA Championship.

Gallacher birdied the third and fourth, bagged back-to-back birdies again at the 13th and 14th, and closed with a joint best-of-the-day 68 finish in a tie for fourth on seven-under alongside Francesco Molinari and Hedblom, with Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin claiming third on his own after holing a huge birdie putt at the last for the same closing score as Gallacher and former winner Johan Edfors.zz