Scott - record breaking win at Gleneagles (Allsport).
By Phil Casey, PA Sport
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Australia's Adam Scott blew away the rest of the field with a record-breaking
10-shot victory in the Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles.
Scott carded a final-round 63 for an astonishing 26-under-par total of 262 to
claim the first prize of £166,660, his second win of the season and third
European Tour title.
The 22-year-old's 10-shot winning margin bettered by two strokes the previous
best this season, set by Retief Goosen in winning the Johnnie Walker Classic in
January.
It was also the lowest score on tour this season, beating Jose Maria
Olazabal's total of 22 under in the Hong Kong Open, and was just one short of
the all-time European Tour record of 27 under held by American duo John Daly and
Jerry Anderson.
Scott was an incredible 22 under par for the 20 par fives this week, and
although his 63 will not count as a joint course record as preferred lies were
in operation due to the wet conditions, it does earn him a Rolex watch worth
more than £3,000 for the lowest round of the tournament.
Scotland's Raymond Russell closed with a 68 to take second place, his best
finish since winning his only tour title in 1996.
Sam Torrance was a shot further back in third, the Ryder Cup captain also
enjoying his best finish since his last win in 1998, the day after his 49th
birthday.
"When you're hot, you're hot," admitted a modest Scott after a grandstand
finish of eagle-birdie-eagle on the last three holes. "It was almost winner's
luck, there is no real pressure on you when you're leading by a few, you can
just go and play your shots.
"I felt comfortable, just tried to stay patient and got off to the ideal
start. I just planned to dominate the par fives and knew if I needed to pick up
shots I could do.
"It's an important win for me to win in Britain and under some different
conditions. I've won in perfect conditions (in South Africa and Qatar) but this
was testing, especially on Friday."
A superb 65 amidst a continual downpour on Friday set the foundations for
Scott's victory and more than made up for his disappointment of missing out on
the NEC Invitational in Seattle this week.
"There was one reason to come here and that was to win," added the
Queenslander, who dropped out of the all-important top 50 in the world rankings
after missing five cuts in six events in mid-season. "I feel like I should be
up there in the top 50 and I've gone about it the right way.
"I can take a lot of confidence from this win if I get myself into contention
in another big event.
"It was disappointing and frustrating to play so badly after finishing ninth
in the Masters at Augusta. I had got to fifth in the Order of Merit early in the
year and had a chance to kick on and go and win it."
Scott however paid the price for taking three weeks off after the Masters and
vowed not to make the same mistake again.
"That was bad scheduling and this time I will have a good think about it and
try to use it more to my advantage now that I'm playing well.
"I'll have next week off and then play the Korean Open before the German
Masters."
Runner-up Russell had been languishing in 133rd on the money list at the start
of the week, but ironically reaped the rewards of some hard work with coach Bob
Torrance, the father of the man he pipped to second place.
"My dad would have wanted Raymond second because he gets a cut of his prize
money, he gets nothing of mine," joked Torrance, who also secured his card for
a 32nd consecutive season on tour next year. "But I'm delighted I'm going to be
properly exempt next year rather than relying on the career money list."
Russell, who moved into the top 60 with a cheque for £111,110, added: "I
didn't bother looking at the leaderboard until the 16th and I don't look at the
Order of Merit for the same reason.
"I can go into the rest of the year now looking forward to the rest of the
tournaments and there are a lot of big-money events coming up."
Scott's five-shot lead at the start of the day was briefly cut to three as
Russell birdied the first two holes, but Scott's birdie on the second coupled
with a dropped shot from Russell on the third soon restored the Australian's
overnight lead.
A birdie on the fourth stretched the lead still further and although Torrance
closed within four thanks to three birdies and an eagle in his first eight
holes, Scott was never in real danger of being caught.
Two more straightforward birdies on the par-five ninth and 12th kept him
firmly out of sight and there was still time for another grandstand finish.
He finished eagle-birdie-birdie on Saturday but went one better with an eagle
on the 16th, birdie on the 17th and 35-foot eagle putt on the 18th to be home in
just 30 shots.
Collated final-round scores: 262 Adam Scott (Aus) 67 65 67 63 (£166,660)
272 Raymond Russell 67 71 66 68 (£111,110)
273 Sam Torrance 69 68 69 67 (£62,600)
276 Scott Gardiner (Aus) 67 72 65 72 (£50,000)
277 Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 66 73 68 (£42,400)
278 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 71 73 67 (£35,000)
279 Ian Garbutt 67 74 71 67, Andrew Oldcorn 67 71 72 69, Henrik Bjornstad
(Nor) 68 72 70 69, Matthew Cort 67 71 70 71
280 Paul Casey 72 74 68 66, Marc Warren 71 70 72 67, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 70
70 72 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 75 69 69, Richard Green (Aus) 65 71 72 72
281 David Lynn 69 73 70 69, David Gilford 69 74 69 69, Greg Owen 74 72 66 69,
Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 66 72 70 73
282 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 76 69 71 66, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 76 67 68, Alex
Cejka (Ger) 69 74 69 70, Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 74 69 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 70
71 69 72, Stephen Dodd 67 73 69 73, Rolf Muntz (Rsa) 70 75 64 73
283 Richard Bland 71 73 71 68, Olivier Edmond (Fra) 73 70 71 69, David Howell
68 74 71 70, Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 73 70 71, Jeremy Robinson 68 70 71 74
284 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 67 78 71 68, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 74 67 71, Stephen
Leaney (Aus) 71 71 70 72, David Park 68 69 74 73
285 Michele Reale (Ita) 75 72 69 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 76 68 73, Mark
Roe 69 68 74 74
286 Martin Maritz (Rsa) 75 72 72 67, Gary Orr 69 73 74 70, Jamie Spence 67 77
69 73, Adam Mednick (Swe) 72 73 66 75
287 Mark James 70 73 75 69, Warren Bennett 73 70 73 71, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71
71 73 72, Philip Walton 68 70 76 73, Des Smyth 71 72 71 73, Miles Tunnicliff 72
73 69 73, Colin Gillies 71 71 71 74
288 Alastair Forsyth 68 78 73 69, Shaun Webster 73 72 73 70, Simon Dyson 74 73
69 72, Stuart Little 70 74 71 73, Greg Turner (Nzl) 72 73 70 73, Craig Lee 68 75
71 74
289 Van Phillips 72 69 77 71, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 74 73 70 72, Roger
Chapman 73 71 71 74, Barry Hume 73 68 72 76
290 John Bickerton 68 79 73 70, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 74 74 71,
Massimo Scarpa (Ita) 70 77 72 71, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 68 78 72 72, Didier De
Vooght (Bel) 73 74 71 72
291 Anthony Wall 72 71 75 73, Peter Senior (Aus) 69 75 73 74, Stephen
Gallacher 71 75 71 74
292 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 73 74 76 69, David Drysdale 76 70 74 72, Andrew
Coltart 70 77 73 72, Scott Henderson 73 73 73 73, Lucas Parsons (Aus) 74 73 72
73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 75 72 74
293 Jonathan Lomas 72 75 74 72, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 69 74 73 77
294 Robert Coles 69 76 70 79
295 Dennis Edlund (Swe) 73 73 74 75
296 Gary Emerson 70 77 76 73, Gary Evans 73 73 73 77
299 Iain Pyman 74 73 75 77
301 Nick Dougherty 72 74 78 77
305 Simon Khan 71 76 80 78
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