Gullane, UK: Rickie Fowler won the Scottish Open at Gullane yesterday, setting up the winning birdie with a superb wedge shot to within 18 inches at the last.
It was a dramatic finish to a closely-fought, round-long battle involving a dozen players, with the lead changing hands several times.
Fowler’s Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Kuchar shared second, a shot back, with Raphael Jacquelin of France after rounds of 68 and 70, respectively.
A shot further back came top Scot Marc Warren, who had the day’s best round of 64, young Englishman Eddie Pepperell, who had a 69, and Dutchman Joost Luiten with a 70.
It was just a fourth pro win for 26-year-old Fowler, who won the Players Championship earlier this year, and it will set him up perfectly for a crack at the Open Championship next week at St Andrews.
Warren’s 64 had set the clubhouse lead at 10 under early in the afternoon and he then sat back hoping for some rain and wind to play havoc with the leaders.
He didn’t quite get that, but the going out on the picturesque Gullane coastline was still tough enough to make matching him a difficult prospect.
Brooks, as he had done the day before, quickly lost his lead with a bogey at the first and it was Jacquelin who took up the pace, going around the turn at 11 under.
Americans Fowler and Kuchar were in pursuit but they were finding birdies hard to come by as the day wore one.