Flawless Morrison wins Open de España

England’s James Morrison produced a superb, bogey-free closing round of 69 to win the Open de España at Real Club de Golf El Prat by four strokes.

England’s James Morrison produced a superb, bogey-free closing round of 69 to win the Open de España at Real Club de Golf El Prat by four strokes.

Morrison began the final round tied for the lead with his fellow Englishman David Howell. But, as Howell faltered, Morrison pulled clear of the pack with birdies at the 5th and 9th holes. The 30-year-old then reeled off eight straight pars to keep his closest pursuers at a safe distance. A final birdie on the home hole sealed a second European Tour victory for Morrison. The win saw him pick up a cheque for €250,000 and it will move him up by more than 100 places on the Official World Golf Ranking.

“It feels amazing,” said Morrison whose last victory came in Madeira in 2010. “It’s been five years and I’ve had a lot of chances between then and now to win and haven’t done it but I drew on all my experience and got over the line.”

“In years past when I haven’t done it it’s been too much looking at leaderboards and outside influences, and today even down to that last putt I wanted to hole that putt badly and stuck to my process all day long and executed which feels amazing,” he continued.

“You try and enjoy it now; I’ve been off the booze this week for the first time in ages, so I’m very thirsty!”

It was a great day for defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez. The 51-year-old holed his second shot on the 5th for an eagle two, and he very nearly scored a hole-in-one on the par-3 8th. Jimenez had already aced the hole this week – on Friday.

In the end he closed with an excellent 67 to finish the week on six-under-par, in a tie for second with Edouard Espana of France, Francesco Molinari of Italy and England’s David Howell.

Howell did well to bounce back towards the end of his final round. After 11 holes he was four-over-par for the day and had dropped right down the leaderboard. But three birdies in the last five holes saw the Englishman climb back into a tie for second place.

Open de España Real Club de Golf El Prat, Terrassa, Barcelona May 7-10 Purse: €1,500,000, par 72

1    James Morrison (Eng)    70    71    68    69    278    €250,000   T2    Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp) 72 71    72    67    282    €99,790 T2    Edouard Espana (Fra)    68    69    76    69    282    €99,790 T2    Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72    69    70    71    282    €99,790 T2    David Howell (Eng)    71    69    69    73    282    €99,790 6    Emiliano Grillo (Arg)    70    70    72    71    283    €52,500 T7    Jose Manuel Lara (Esp)    70    76    72    66    284    €41,250 T7    Jorge Campillo (Esp)    74    70    70    70    284    €41,250 T9    Wade Ormsby (Aus)    77    71    72    65    285    €27,350 T9    Max Kieffer (Ger)        73    70    76    66    285    €27,350 T9    Pelle Edberg (Swe)    70    73    75    67    285    €27,350 T9    Eduardo De La Riva (Esp) 66    77    74    68    285    €27,350 T9    Soren Kjeldsen (Den)    70    76    70    69    285    €27,350 T9    Darren Fichardt (RSA)    66    73    73    73    285    €27,350

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage