Ireland's Damien McGrane coped best in terrible conditions at the Beijing CBD International Golf Club to secure his maiden title on the European Tour with an impressive nine-stroke victory at the Volvo China Open today.
After clear skies in the previous three rounds the players took
to the course this morning in heavy rain and wind and the tough
playing conditions were reflected in the scores with few birdie
putts being made.
With the rest of the players seeing their scorecard littered
with bogeys McGrane kept his cool to produce an impressive round
which yielded two birdies and three bogeys.
The Meathman carded a one-over-par 73 though his victory had
looked certain as early as when he had reached the turn with a
four-stroke lead.
"I'm overjoyed, I can't believe it," said McGrane afterwards. "I won't say it was easy but my golf was super this week.
"To go out leading and to finish the job off is tremendously
satisfying for me."
Graeme McDowell also enjoyed one of the better final rounds
with a 75 that saw him finish level par and in a tie for fifth
place.
Playing partner Oliver Wilson was not so fortunate on the wet
course as he endured a torrid day, though still managed to finish
with a share of second place at one-under-par.
The 27-year-old from Mansfield had started the final round
three strokes behind McGrane but struggled from the offset,
bogeying his first two holes.
He bogeyed the par-four fourth and when his approach shot to
set-up a par putt on the fifth rolled down the other side of the
green leaving him to card other
bogey, Wilson had slipped down the leaderboard.
He bogeyed again on the sixth but he improved somewhat on the
inward nine, carding two birdies against four bogeys to secure
second place with a even-over-par 79.
Wilson was joined by compatriot Simon Griffiths and Michael
Lorenzo-Vera of France who had carded a 74 and a 79 respectively.
"The course was extremely difficult today," said Griffiths.
"I missed one fairway and if you miss fairways you are going to
make bogeys. Hitting those fairways was key today.
"I knew it was going to be bad when I woke up this morning
and saw the grey skies. Its been very difficult for everyone but
luckily I hit the ball good off the tee and I got half decent
scores."
Mark Brown carded a costly triple bogey on the 18th to throw
away a potential second place finish and returned to the clubhouse
tied for third.
The New Zealander had been steady throughout his round,
dropping just two shots but that all went to waste on the last hole
as he finished alongside last year's champion Markus Brier.