Weekend winners: Double Dutch from Luiten, Dustin coasts home
European Tour: KLM Open – Joost Luiten
Ten birdies, two bogeys and six pars added up to a 63 and a three-shot victory for Luiten over Bernd Wiesberger. It is Luiten’s fifth win on Tour and his second in his national Open and continues a brilliantly consistent year, the Dutchman also has eight top 10s including two second places.
Wiesberger led after a birdie at the 15th but a bogey at 17 and three late Luiten birdies turned things around.
South Korea’s Ben An was third after matching Wiesberger’s 65, a shot ahead of Alejandro Cañizares, English duo Ben Evans and David Horsey and Australia’s Scott Hend who slipped to a 73.
Nobody knows these greens better than Joost…#KLMOpen https://t.co/9sc9pTiKwh
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 11, 2016
What Luiten said: “The first one was special but this one is very special. It was one of those days where everything I looked at went in the hole. People talk about the zone, and I think I was in it today. I missed one shot when I went in the water on 13 but besides that I didn’t do much wrong. These are the kind of days that make it all worth getting out of bed for.”
Genius. #KLMOpenhttps://t.co/9wdLGDKzDs https://t.co/1m5azKOHAi
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 11, 2016
PGA Tour: BMW Championship – Dustin Johnson
Twenty-four birdies and three eagles is generally going to get the job done. A new putter also helped. Were it not for Paul Casey it would have been a procession – Johnson won by three – after closing with a 67 for his third win since June. The pair traded eagles at the 15th before the US Open sauntered home.
The American only had one par in his first eight holes but fortunately five of those holes were birdies to snuff out Casey’s fast start. Fellow American Robert Castro, who holed out at the 7th, was third while Charl Schwartzel had the round of the day on every level as his eight-under 64 just squeezed him into the Tour Championship.
Rickie Fowler missed out by a single shot and 0.57 FedEx Cup points after finishing 59th of the 69 players. Roberto Castro, Daniel Berger, J.B. Holmes and Schwartzel moved inside the top 30, Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka and Henrik Stenson moved out.
Last week’s winner Rory McIlroy was tied for 42nd but the other big news was Jason Day’s withdrawal after eight holes with a back problem. The Aussie tweaked his lower back when he bent down to put a tee in the ground at the 9th and decided to pull out rather than risk further damage. The thinking is that he will be fit for the season-ender at East Lake.
Dustin Johnson's ranks this week …
Birdies: 1st
Putts per GIR: 1st
Driving distance: 1st
Projected #FedExCup: 1st pic.twitter.com/Kmzlflieed— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 11, 2016
“So, winning that, finally getting that first Major, I think that was a big deal and that kind of kickstarted my year.”
European Senior Tour: Paris Legends – Magnus Atlevi
Just a week after withdrawing from Woburn the Swede broke his duck, edging out Mark Mouland, Stephen Dodd and Phil Golding at Le Golf National.
He carded a two-under, bogey-free 69 to win at his 10th attempt on the Senior Tour. He could afford to bogey the last but a five-foot putt meant he only dropped two shots all week and they came on consecutive holes on Friday.
What Atlevi said: “It’s kind of like Paul Broadhurst said after winning the Senior Open. Things like these don’t happen to guys like me, but there you go. Anything is possible.
“Last Sunday I was at home watching the scores online when André Bossert won, and I wondered if I would be able to get out there and play. And now I’m here. Every win is special and for a guy like me that hasn’t won much at all, it means that little bit more.”
Mark Townsend
Been watching and playing golf since the early 80s and generally still stuck in this period. Huge fan of all things Robert Rock, less so white belts. Handicap of 8, fragile mind and short game
