Bourdy bags Hong Kong title
Frenchman Gregory Bourdy held off a late charge from Rory McIlroy to capture the UBS Hong Kong Open on Sunday.
Gregory Bourdy held off a spirited challenge from Rory McIlroy to win the UBS Hong Kong Open by two shots on Sunday.
Defending a two-shot overnight lead from Robert-Jan Derksen, Bourdy dropped just one shot in a conservative three-under-par 67 to finish at 19 under overall to claim his third European Tour title.
The 27-year-old, who last won in Estoril in 2008, also secured his place at the season-ending Dubai World Championship with his seventh professional victory also propelling him into the top 100 in the world.
McIlroy began the final day five adrift of Bourdy but went birdie-par-eagle-par-birdie-birdie from the 11th to the 16th to loom large in Bourdy’s rearview mirror.
But a furious McIlroy three-putted his penultimate green following a wayward approach for his only blemish of the final day and was and was forced to settle for a second consecutive runner-up finish at Hong Kong Golf Club following a six-under-par 64.
Francesco Molinari, who also lost out in last year’s play-off alongside McIlroy, finished with back-to-back birdies as he also dropped just one shot in a final round 64 to finish tied for third alongside Derksen (68) at 16 under.
Singapore Open champion Ian Poulter (64) and Raphael Jacquelin (64) finished five back tied for fifth after final round charges with Peter Lawrie a further shot adrift following a three-under 67.
Simon Dyson (66) claimed eighth at 12 under par with Scott Strange (66) and David Dixon, who secured his card for next season with a three under 67, rounding out the top 10.
“I didn’t look at the leaderboard until the 18th green so I didn’t know McIlroy played well. I wanted to stay focused on my game and play shot-by-shot and I knew if I played two, three or four under that was OK and I made it,” said Bourdy.
“Dubai was a big objective and a big motivation. I needed to win and I did it, it’s great.”
ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 70):
261 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 64 67 63 67
263 Rory McIlroy 66 68 65 64
264 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 63 68 65 68, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66 68 66 64
266 Ian Poulter 68 66 68 64, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 66 68 68 64
267 Peter Lawrie 66 68 66 67
268 Simon Dyson 68 67 67 66
269 David Dixon 64 69 69 67, Scott Strange (Aus) 68 65 70 66
270 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 65 66 71 68, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 66 65 72 67, Scott Drummond 69 67 68 66, Danny Chia (Mal) 67 66 68 69, Darren Clarke 69 67 67 67, Mark Foster 65 69 69 67, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 64 71 68 67
271 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 65 67 71 68, Graeme McDowell 67 68 66 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 69 63 71, David Howell 69 66 67 69
272 Marcus Both (Aus) 70 67 65 70, Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe) 64 69 67 72, Simon Yates 70 68 67 67, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 65 69 73 65, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 66 69 67 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 68 67 68 69, Simon Khan 67 70 71 64
273 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 67 67 68, Kiradech Aphibamrat (Tha) 68 67 71 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 68 70 68 67, Colin Montgomerie 69 69 67 68, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 66 67 69 71, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 71 67 69 66, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 68 68 67 70
274 Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 67 70 68 69, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 67 70 66, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 67 69 69 69, Rhys Davies 65 69 71 69, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 68 68 68 70, Jason Knutzon (USA) 68 67 69 70, Tony Carolan (Aus) 65 71 68 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 68 67 69, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 69 68 68 69
275 Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 65 69 69 72, Airil-Rizman Zahari (Mal) 68 66 70 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 70 68 70
276 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 68 68 72 68, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 69 68 71 68, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 66 66 75 69
277 Jamie Donaldson 69 69 70 69, Mars Pucay (Phi) 68 67 73 69
278 Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67 70 71 70
279 Iain Steel (Mal) 68 70 68 73, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 65 72 72, Lee Westwood 66 70 69 74, Graeme Storm 68 67 76 68
280 Darren Beck (Aus) 68 70 72 70, Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 69 71 71
281 Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 65 73 71 72, Shun yat jason Hak (Hkg) 70 67 72 72, Bradley Dredge 66 71 73 71
283 Anthony Kang (USA) 69 66 74 74, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 71 67 72 73
284 Udorn Duangdecha (Tha) 62 74 75 73
292 Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 66 72 77 77
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