Sunday 1 July 2012

Donaldson Duck Broken in Portrush

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Jamie Donaldson clinched his maiden European Tour title at the 255th time of asking as he shot 18-under to clinch The Irish Open at Royal Portrush.

The Welshman fought off challengers Anthony Wall, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Fabrizio Zanotti and Mikael Lundberg to win by four shots in front of 30,000 spectators in Northern Ireland.

The 36 year old held the overnight lead, but found himself looking up at the leaderboard before he had even teed off due to Mikael Lundberg’s thrilling start.

The Swede turned in 29 only to see Donaldson rally with successive birdies at the second, third and fourth.

Donaldson had shot under 70 in each of his first three rounds and his consistency was again evident as he putted smartly, showing no signs of nerves despite the €333,330 on offer.

He dropped shots at the 11th and 16th, but squeezed four birdies into the back nine to remain at the leaderboard’s summit.

Wall, playing with Donaldson in the last pairing, birdied the first but was always fighting to get back into contention after a triple bogey eight on the second.

Cabrera-Bello’s hopes of adding this tournament to his Omega Dubai Desert Classic crown earlier this year were going well until an error out of the rough on the 17th proved costly.

Zanotti produced the most consistent round, recording half a dozen birdies and 14 pars in his six under.

David Drysdale, Graeme McDowell and Ross Fisher, who had two eagles on the front nine, also carded 66.

The most impressive round of the morning belonged to Lundberg, though, who could have applied more pressure at the top had he not bogeyed two of the last three to finish on 13 under.

But Donaldson remained undeterred anyway with a marvellous second shot on the par five 17th setting him up for another birdie.

He held a two-shot lead over Wall going into the last and was able to lap up the applause once his drive had found the fairway from the tee.

He finished in style by rolling in his birdie putt to finish with 66, the best of his four rounds.

In taking the title, Donaldson became the tenth Welshman to win on The European Tour.

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