Donaldson claims his first tour victory after closing 66

GOLF: THE INTERLOPER was embraced as one of their own, which was typical of how the galleries at this Irish Open – a first in 59 years to be staged in Northern Ireland – achieved a special status and raised the bar for just about every other tournament on the European Tour.

Jamie Donaldson, a Welshman, could just thank his lucky stars that an overdue first win on tour was part of the history.

On a day when the grey clouds and persistent rain finally relented, to allow – for the most part – blue skies and nothing more than a gentle breeze, the scoring was hot.

Too hot, in fact, for Pádraig Harrington, a three-time Major champion seeking to win a second Irish Open title in a town which proudly proclaims itself to be the ‘Golfing Major capital of the world’.

This time, Harrington’s efforts – his putter a wee bit on the cold side – came up short. But it wasn’t for the want of trying; and, as he pointed out afterwards, it would have needed something special, in the region of a closing 64, if he were to close the deal.

Instead, the Dubliner finished with a 70, for 276, that was six shots adrift of the impressive Donaldson.

As he turned on the 18th green, acknowledging the loud applause of those gathered on sand hills and in grandstands who were appreciative of his efforts, Harrington also took a long, lingering look at the giant leaderboard which highlighted how winner and losers plotted their ways around the magnificent links on a pet day.

It showed a course record equalling 65, from Sweden’s Mikael Lundberg who covered the front nine in a mere 29 strokes. It showed a plethora of birdies.

And it showed that Donaldson – in his 255th event on the European Tour – had finally discovered the winning habit.

“It’s taken a while,” conceded Donaldson, the father of a three-month-old son who seems to have taken the new arrival as a signal to play the best golf of his career.

“It’s taken me a lot longer than I thought.”

Patience, as every golfer knows, is a virtue. And all those years of trying finally paid off for Donaldson, who started the final round with the lead and took an iron grip on the destination of the title when his playing partner Anthony Wall hit a tee-shot out of bounds on the second hole and ran up a triple bogey eight.

Donaldson’s response was to birdie three successive holes from the second. Then, on the homeward run, with a maiden title in sight, he reeled off five birdies on that final stretch.

As wins went, it was comfortable; and probably made him wonder why it had taken so long to achieve.

Intriguingly, Donaldson had shown good form when shooting a 62 in the British Open International Qualifying at Sunningdale last Monday.

The result of that low career round was to part ways with his old caddie James Baker, and to strike up a new partnership with bagman Mick Donaghy, who once carried for Ian Poulter.

The new relationship, as it often does in this game, sparked an instant win. Donaldson’s closing 66 for 270, 18 under, gave him a four-shot winning margin over the trio of Wall, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Fabrizio Zanotti.

Harrington’s quest to jump out of the blocks fast hit a wall straight away, when he three-putted the first hole.

It was to be a strange round, in which he didn’t do anything disastrous but where one putt after another slid by one hole after another.

“The bogey on the first didn’t kill me,” said Harrington, “(the run) of eight, nine, 10, 11 killed me. . . . maybe holing a putt on eight. Maybe holing a putt on nine and on 10. Maybe not losing my focus on 11. Maybe holing putts on 13, 14, 16, 17. There’s so many you can pick out,” said a rueful Harrington.

It just wasn’t to be his day.

What did hurt, though, was another final round where the putter didn’t find the hole with regularity in his quest for a first win on tour since his US PGA success of 2008.

And, given his very strong form of late, which saw him contend in the US Open and, on either side, the St Jude Classic and the Travelers, Harrington felt he had again let critical world ranking points go abegging on a Sunday.

Harrington’s closing 70 for 276 left him as the leading Irish player in the field in tied-seventh, but such kudos don’t bring the embrace of old. As he put it afterwards, top-10s or even runner-up finishes are not what he is about.

It is about winning. “It’s tough when the putts aren’t dropping, it’s tough to gain any momentum or any confidence . . . I just have to get one of those weeks where you see the lines and you trust it.”

Rory McIlroy finished with a bogey free 67 for 277, 11 under, that gave him a share of tied-10th. The world number two now has two weeks away from tournament play before reappearing at the British Open in Lytham.

“I’ll just work on the fade and make sure that the rest of the game is sharp and ready to go,” said McIlroy of his plans for the fortnight.

For Donaldson, it’s a case of play and play again. The Welshman heads on to the French Open – and next week’s Scottish Open – in the new position as a tour winner.

“It’s just the icing on the cake that I’ve won here on such a great golf course with such great support,” he said.