Paul Casey takes route 66 to Porsche European Open title

Paul Casey claimed his first European Tour title in five years after coming out on top of a congested leaderboard at the Porsche European Open.

The 42-year-old was joined by Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and overnight leaders Robert MacIntyre and Bernd Ritthammer at 12 under par with three holes remaining during an enthralling finale at Green Eagle Golf Courses.

Pádraig Harrington recorded his joint best finish in almost a year with a final round of 69 leaving him in a tie for 12th at six under. Meanwhile, Gavin Moynihan finished three over for a tie for 56th while Michael Hoey finished tied 66th at nine over.

Casey’s experience came to the fore after a stunning birdie putt from 35 feet at the 16th proved to be the turning point as he carded a birdie-birdie-par finish to claim his 14th European Tour victory in Hamburg — his first since the KLM Open in 2014.

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“I get emotional at every victory but this year has been so fantastic,” Casey told europeantour.com, who dedicated the trophy to former winner Gordon Brand Jnr following his death at the age of 60 last month.

“This is an incredibly prestigious trophy that has a lot of history to it on the European Tour so I’m over the moon. I’m happy to be the Porsche European Open champion.”

Casey started the day one shot behind the Scot and Ritthammer at eight under and recorded his best front nine of the week of 31 to move in contention, with MacIntyre still maintaining the one-shot advantage at the turn.

The 23-year-old’s only blemish at the 12th left the door open for Casey, who replied with a birdie at the 13th, to get his nose in front before moving back ahead at the 16th following a four-way tie for the lead.

Casey could only par the last to give MacIntyre and Ritthammer hope of a potential play-off.

But the Scot’s eagle putt slid by the hole before the home favourite’s birdie attempt pulled up just short as the world number 17 became the third successive Englishman to win the event after Jordan Smith and Richard McEvoy.

Collated final scores & totals in the European Tour Porsche European Open, Green Eagle Golf Courses, Hamburg, Germany (British unless stated, par 72):

274 Paul Casey 66 73 69 66

275 Robert Macintyre 68 65 74 68, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 71 66 70 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 72 70 66

276 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 69 72 64

277 Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 74 67 64

278 Guido Migliozzi (Spa) 71 68 72 67, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 71 68 69

279 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 71 73 68 67, Ashley Chesters 71 71 70 67

281 Jeff Winther (Den) 72 69 70 70

282 Louis De Jager (Rsa) 72 69 71 70, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 71 74 68 69

283 Ben Evans 69 73 68 73, Sam Horsfield 75 68 71 69, Dominic Foos (Ger) 74 67 75 67

284 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 72 74 69 69, Hugo Leon (Chi) 73 72 72 67, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 78 69 71 66

285 Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 77 69 69 70, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 70 72 74 69

286 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 69 75 73 69, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 69 71 73 73, Stuart Manley 72 75 70 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 75 69 69 73, Daniel Gavins 76 70 71 69, Oliver Fisher 73 70 76 67

287 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 77 68 71 71, Paul Waring 74 72 72 69, Per Langfors (Swe) 72 73 70 72, Max Rottluff (Ger) 68 75 72 72, Scott Gregory 73 72 68 74

288 Lasse Jensen (Den) 71 73 73 71, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 70 71 74 73, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 74 71 72 71

289 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 72 70 71 76, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 74 72 74 69, Ashun Wu (Chn) 77 70 74 68, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 72 75 72 70, Andy Sullivan 74 70 75 70, Scott Hend (Aus) 73 71 73 72, Johannes Veerman (USA) 76 69 76 68, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 71 74 71 73, Patrick Reed (USA) 74 72 71 72, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 73 72 69 75

290 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 78 69 73 70, Ross Fisher 72 75 71 72, Xander Schauffele (USA) 73 69 76 72, Clement Sordet (Fra) 75 72 76 67, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 74 71 71 74, Matthew Southgate 74 71 76 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 73 72 72, Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 70 71 71 78, (a) Marc Hammer (Ger) 72 75 73 70, Troy Merritt (USA) 77 70 74 69

291 Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 74 72 71 74, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 73 69 75 74, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 74 72 72 73

292 Max Orrin 72 75 73 72

293 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 76 71 75 71, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 77 67 75 74, Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus) 74 72 74 73

294 Jake McLeod (Aus) 72 74 75 73

295 Harrison Endycott (Aus) 72 71 78 74, Jack Singh Brar 74 73 75 73

297 Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (Spa) 72 74 76 75, Adam Bland (Aus) 71 76 74 76, Ben Stow 68 75 78 76, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 74 71 75 77, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 75 70 76 76