5/07/2012

Maybin Finishes Fourth in Spain


Gareth Maybin closed with a 67 for a total of 286 and a share of fourth place in Seville at the Open de Espana.

Peter Lawrie slipped back after a final 73 to finish on 288.

Simon Thornton ended on an aggregate 292 after a closing 72.

Francesco Molinari returned to winning ways on Sunday carding a best-of-the-week round of 65, seven under par, to turn a four-stroke deficit into a three-shot win at the Reale Seguros Spanish Open in Seville.

Molinari was ranked 14th in the world when he beat Lee Westwood at the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai nearly 18 months ago, but this was his first success since then.

While he celebrated his third European Tour victory, however, overnight leader Simon Dyson was left to reflect on a 76 that dealt a big blow to his hopes of a Ryder Cup debut in September. Nobody in the top 50 scored worse on the final day, Dyson falling all the way to joint 12th – and that after starting with two birdies.

Dane Soren Kjeldsen and Spaniards Alejandro Canizares and Pablo Larrazabal finished joint second, but Molinari out-played them all.“I knew I was playing well. I just needed some putts to drop,” said the 29-year-old, who moves back into the world’s top 30. In much easier conditions – the first three rounds were played in wind and rain – Dyson made quick amends for his closing double bogey on Saturday by sinking an 18-foot putt on the first and then holing out from sand at the next. 

But it all started to go wrong for the York golfer again when he ran up a six at the long fifth and further bogeys came on the seventh, eighth, 13th, 15th and 17th. In contrast Molinari birdied three of the first five, then took the outright lead by two-putting the 545-yard ninth to complete an outward 32.