AUSTRALIA’S MIN WOO Lee defeated Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Detry in a play-off to win his second European Tour title in the £5.8million abrdn Scottish Open.
Lee birdied the first extra hole after the leading trio had finished tied on 18 under par at the Renaissance Club following a 90-minute weather delay late in the final round.
The 22-year-old, whose sister Minjee Lee was runner-up in the Ladies Scottish Open at nearby Gullane in 2018, had earlier birdied six holes in a row from the third on his way to a flawless closing 64.
That set the clubhouse target on 18 under and the final pair of Fitzpatrick and Detry were the only players capable of matching it after rounds of 67.
Ian Poulter, Ryan Palmer and last week’s Irish Open winner Lucas Herbert finished a shot behind, with US Open champion Jon Rahm another stroke back in seventh, a result which meant he loses his world number one ranking to Dustin Johnson.
The winning moment 🙌#abrdnScottishOpen #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/rRwZv7VHAX
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) July 11, 2021
On an extremely crowded leaderboard, Detry had emerged from a five-way tie for the lead with a birdie on the 13th, only to then miss from close range for par on the 14th at the moment the hooters sounded to suspend play due to the threat of lightning.
When play resumed Lee was the first to take advantage of the pivotal par-five 16th and his birdie was subsequently matched by Detry and Fitzpatrick, with Lee then leaving a birdie putt on the 18th just inches short of the hole.
He made no such mistake when the trio returned to the 18th for sudden death however, holing from nine feet for the winning birdie to claim the first prize of £956,000 (€1,118,620).
Lee took advantage of the weather delay to watch the end of the men’s singles final at Wimbledon and said: “It was nice to see Djokovic come in and do his interview. I thought that was a good feeling and I might want to do that.
“It was an awesome day. I was pretty proud of the way I played and six birdies in a row was pretty sweet.
“It’s crazy. I dreamed of it last night and to the people back home staying up late watching me and sending me messages, this one’s for you too.”
Harrington dares to dream of third Open title after encouraging top-20 finish in Scotland
Lee and Detry also secured places in the Open championship, with England’s Jack Senior claiming the final one on offer thanks to a tie for 10th.
Australia’s Wade Ormsby had earlier won 204 bottles of whiskey for making a hole-in-one on the 12th, one bottle for each yard of the hole.
A 70 on day four saw Dubliner Padraig Harrington finish in a tie for 18th on 11-under, while Cormac Sharvin carded 72 today to finish up eight-under.
You can view the Scottish Open leaderboard here >
Fair play to the gossin, he held his nerve and finished it in style.