GolfPlus July 2018 Digital Edition (July 2018) | Page 20

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Thorbjorn Olesen
Olesen Completes
Italian Job
horbjørn Olesen claimed a maiden Rolex Series
victory at the Italian Open after a thrilling ¿ nal
round battle with Francesco Molinari and Lee
Slattery. The 28 year old needed a par at the last
to secure his ¿ fth European Tour title after home favourite
Molinari sent the crowd wild with a birdie from 30 feet on
the ¿ nal hole, but the Dane made an excellent up and down
from a greenside bunker to complete a ¿ nal round of 64
with a 22 under par total. That was one ahead of last week’s
Wentworth winner Molinari, with overnight leader Slattery
third on 20 under at Gardagolf Country Club. A bogey-free
¿ nal round handed Olesen the biggest win and largest prize
fund of his career, with the 1,166,660 Race to Dubai points
moving him to sixth position in the season’s Rankings.
The win also gives Olesen a boost in his hopes of making
a maiden Ryder Cup appearance this September in Thomas
Bjørn’s European team. With points earned in Rolex Series
events multiplied by 1.5, he now sits ¿ fth in the European
Points list, just outside the projected automatic quali¿ cation
spots. Slattery signed for a ¿ nal round 67, with Spain’s Rafa
Cabrera Bello’s 66 enough for fourth on 18 under. Ryder
Cup vice captains Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell
produced ¿ nal rounds of 63 and 64 respectively to share ¿ fth
with England’s Andy Sullivan.
26 G o l f P l u s
JULY
2018
Francesco Molinari
Final Scores
262 T Olesen (Den) 65 68 65 64,
263 F Molinari (Ita) 66 66 66 65,
264 L Slattery (Eng) 66 69 62 67,
266 R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 65 67 68 66,
267 L Westwood (Eng) 66 70 68 63, G McDowell (Nir) 66 66 71 64, A
Sullivan (Eng) 67 68 65 67,
268 J Smith (Eng) 67 68 65 68, R Fox (Nzl) 69 68 67 64, D Willett (Eng)
65 67 67 69, I Poulter (Eng) 67 68 66 67, M Kaymer (Ger) 68 63 68 69,
C Shinkwin (Eng) 66 71 67 64,
269 J Kruyswijk (RSA) 67 70 65 67, S Hend (Aus) 68 66 67 68, T Pieters
(Bel) 65 67 69 68, L Gagli (Ita) 68 69 66 66, M Jiménez (Esp) 68 70 68 63,
270 H Li (Chn) 68 65 67 70, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 66 71 67 66,
271 O Fisher (Eng) 68 68 68 67, J Scrivener (Aus) 67 71 68 65,
272 A Noren (Swe) 70 68 66 68, C Ford (Eng) 65 71 67 69, A Bland (Aus)
70 66 71 65, J Morrison (Eng) 67 68 70 67, B Hebert (Fra) 70 68 66 68,
B Dredge (Wal) 68 68 67 69, T Fleetwood (Eng) 68 67 69 68,