Golf – Andalucian Open:South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen finally made his European Tour breakthrough by landing the €1million Andalucian Open in Malaga, which also gives him the chance playing at the Masters. The only Irish interest on the final day was that of jockeying for places as all eight home players were too far off the pace to contend.
Oosthuizen, runner-up to Rhys Davies at the Hassan II Trophy in Morocco last week, went one better at the Parador course after moving clear of the field in the early stages of his final round.
The 27-year-old, who held a one shot overnight lead, picked up three birdies in his opening five holes then dropped a shot at the seventh to turn in 32. A fourth birdie of the day at the 10th moved him to 17 under
He went on to sign for a final round three under 67 for a 17 under 263 aggregate, three shots clear of Scotland’s Peter Whiteford (66) and England’s Richard Finch (67).
Oosthuizen was presented with the €166,660 winner’s cheque by the charismatic Miguel-Angel Jimenez, who was the tournament host in his native Malaga this week.
The South African champion, who has been runner-up four times, will have to wait until the conclusion of tonight’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in Bay Hill, Florida to see if he has done enough to climb into the top 50 of the world rankings to secure his place at Augusta – he is currently 60th.
It was a decent return to the main tour for Simon Thornton, who has struggled to get into tournaments after finishing tied 17th at the Joburg Open back in January.
The 33-year-old Qualifying School graduate closed with a two under 68 to end the week as joint leading Irishman on three under.
He was joined in a tie for 36th alongside more experienced campaigners such as Gareth Maybin (72) and Michael Hoey (69). The trio are in line to pick up cheques in the region of €7,000 each.
Paul McGinley, who promised so much over the opening two rounds, remained on two under after a final round 70. Much of his undoing came with yesterday's 74.
Darren Clarke (69) was next one under, three ahead of Shane Lowry (69), while Peter Lawrie (75) and Gary Murphy (73) were way down the field on six and eight over respectively.
Collated final round scores and totals from the Andalucian Open, Parador de Malaga, Malaga, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold par 70):
263Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 63 66 67
266Peter Whiteford 69 64 67 66, Richard Finch 68 65 66 67
268Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 68 65 67, Robert Coles 69 65 63 71
269Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 69 64 65 71, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65 67 69 68, Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 69 68 66, Jamie Donaldson 67 69 67 66, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 66 67 68, James Morrison 71 63 70 65
270Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 65 67 70, Sam Hutsby 67 63 70 70, Stephen Gallacher 67 70 65 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 68 67 70 65, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 64 68 66
271Paul Lawrie 65 68 68 70, David Howell 69 69 67 66, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 70 63 69
273Steve Webster 71 66 68 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 66 73 68 66, Mark Brown (Nzl) 66 68 70 69
274Gary Orr 68 68 66 72, Stephen Dodd 73 66 67 68, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 68 69 69
275Paul Waring 74 62 69 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 65 68 70, Bradley Dredge 66 70 71 68
276Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 66 65 74, Richard Bland 68 68 69 71, Gary Lockerbie 69 67 72 68, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 69 68 68 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 68 71 68, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 66 69 71 70, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 70 69 68 69
277Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 68 68 70 71, John Parry 68 69 68 72, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 69 73 65, Gareth Maybin 70 67 68 72, David Lynn 67 70 69 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 70 65 74, Simon Thornton 69 70 70 68, Michael Hoey 69 69 70 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 67 68 69
278Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 69 71 69, David Drysdale 71 68 68 71, Phillip Archer 66 74 70 68, Danny Willett 74 66 71 67, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 67 68 72, Paul McGinley 68 66 74 70, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 71 68 70
279Richie Ramsay 73 67 69 70, Santiago Luna (Spa) 73 64 70 72, Darren Clarke 70 68 72 69
280Marco Ruiz (Par) 70 67 72 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 68 72 69, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 71 67 75 67
281Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 66 71 70 74, Jamie Elson 70 68 74 69, Robert Rock 69 71 76 65, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 71 73 68, Phillip Price 72 68 71 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 67 71 72 71
282Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 69 72 71, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 68 72 71 71, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 67 71 75 69, Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger) 70 68 71 73, Dale Whitnell 68 70 70 74, Shane Lowry 72 67 74 69
283Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 72 67 70 74, Marc Warren 71 68 71 73
284Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 69 72 72, Nick Dougherty 72 68 74 70, Barry Lane 70 70 73 71, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 71 68 76 69
285Alastair Forsyth 71 69 70 75
286Anthony Wall 68 69 76 73, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 70 70 75 71, Andrew Oldcorn 71 69 73 73, Peter Lawrie 68 72 71 75
288 Gary Murphy 69 71 75 73, Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 69 77 71