GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR:EDOARDO MOLINARI won a dramatic Johnnie Walker Championship with three closing birdies at Gleneagles, and an hour later was jumping with joy again when he learnt that it had cemented his Ryder Cup wild card.

The 29-year-old Italian, whose brother Francesco was already in the team, was two behind Australian Brett Rumford with three holes of the final counting event to play yesterday.

He two-putted the long 16th for birdie, sank a curling, 30-footer at the 194-yard 17th for a second and then chipped to within 18 inches of the long final hole for a third to add the title to the Scottish Open he won at Loch Lomond last month.

Cup captain Colin Montgomerie called it one of the best performances he had seen under pressure in all his 24 years on the European team.

The Molinaris will be the first brothers in the match since Bernard and Geoff Hunt in 1963.

Being chosen ahead of world number nine Paul Casey and double US Tour winner Justin Rose clearly meant the world to Molinari, who last season was on the Challenge Tour.

“I would have been happy a year ago to have enough money to keep my card by this time,” he said.

“Colin told me he was proud of what I had done and I said ‘thank you very much and I can’t wait to get to Wales’.

“It was quite an emotional moment for me because this means I will be playing with my brother and that is something that is almost unreal.

“Hopefully we can make as many points as we can for the team.

“I think I had to win to get into the team because I was up against so many strong players. I could tell from the way he said it that if I had finished second then it wouldn’t have been good enough.

“For two brothers to be playing in the Ryder Cup – at that level of sport – is an amazing achievement.

“I said we wouldn’t lose a point, so maybe four halves would do it!”

He and Francesco were World Cup winners last November and, incredibly, they played the final round together both at Loch Lomond and again yesterday.

Molinari’s latest triumph left him an agonising one point short of gaining automatic selection off the world points list, but that did not matter when he was called to see the captain after his win.

It came with a one-under-par 71 in the windy conditions and a 10-under total of 278.

Rumford was second, and two shots farther back were Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Welshman Jamie Donaldson and Molinari’s brother, who had been the overnight leader and was still in with a chance until he closed with a bogey six.

Jimenez and Swede Peter Hanson were able to start celebrating without waiting for captain Colin Montgomerie’s decision an hour later.

They did what they had to do to clinch the final two automatic spots for Celtic Manor.

Simon Dyson, who began the week hoping a win would get him into the side, finished sixth.

Jimenez needed a top-nine finish to make sure and was joint third, while Hanson required top-43 and was 19th.

Jimenez, who made a late decision to play because he was in danger of being knocked out, could have gone to his nephew’s wedding as it turned out.

Damien McGrane was best of the Irish on five under par for a share of seventh after a 74. He was still in the hunt at seven under par after the front nine, but dropped shots at the 10th, 14th and 16th saw his hopes slip away.

Still, he collected € 43,774.

Simon Thornton finished on one under after a disappointing – and expensive – 78 that included five bogeys and a double bogey.

Ryder Cup vice-captain Paul McGinley might have been forgiven for focusing on other things as he fired a 76.