Thorbjorn Olesen won the Italian Open after a thrilling final round battle with last week’s winner Francesco Molinari and 54-hole leader Lee Slattery, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Needing a par at the last after home favourite Molinari sent the crowd wild with a birdie from 30 feet, the Dane looked in trouble when he pulled his drive a long way left. But he made an excellent up-and-down from a greenside bunker to complete a final round 64 and 22 under par total.
That was one ahead of last week’s Wentworth winner Molinari, with overnight leader Slattery – who missed a birdie attempt from 15 feet on the last – third on 20 under.
The win is Olesen’s fifth on the European Tour and first Rolex Series win; it also makes him Denmark’s second most successful golfer.
European Tour rookie Jacques Kruyswijk finished top of the Saffa pile in Brescia after a final round 68 lifted him to -15 and a share of 14th place. Three birdies in four holes before the turn erased the irritation of an opening bogey before birdies at the 16th and 17th helped him to top the list of 10 South Africans who made the weekend.
Kruyswijk’s final round 68 was the best of the lot with Erik van Rooyen’s 69 next although there were three players between Van Rooyen, the only South African player to move up the leaderboard, in T42 and Kruyswijk.
Dylan Frittelli, Dean Burmester and Thomas Aiken all finished at -11 in T30. Both Frittelli and Burmester had two bogeys undoing three birdies with Aiken forced to sign for a 73 and a final day drop of 20 places.
First round co-leader Richard Sterne finished in a share of 65th place after failing to find another round in the 60s alongside Brandon Stone.
