Bjorn wins Johnnie Walker in sudden death
GLENEAGLES, Scotland — Thomas Bjorn won a five-way sudden-death playoff at the fifth extra hole Sunday to capture the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
The 40-year-old Dane made birdie at the par-5 No. 18 to beat South Africa's George Coetzee, after Austria's Bernd Wiesberger, Spain's Pablo Larrazabal and England's Mark Foster had been eliminated earlier in a five-man shootout that lasted more than 90 minutes.
All five players had finished with 11-under totals of 277, with Foster botching a chance to win outright by bogeying the 72nd hole when a par was all he needed to end an eight-year title drought.
Bjorn's second title of the year — and 12th of his career — lifted him just outside the world's top 50 in the rankings, with the 266,000 euros ($380,000) first prize taking his season's earnings beyond 1 million euros.
"As you get rid of one at a time it becomes more difficult, but the way I played the hole the last three times was great," said Bjorn, who also won the Qatar Masters in February.
Bjorn, who started the day three shots behind joint overnight leaders Foster and Spain's Ignacio Garrido, kept his composure during the playoff and fired birdies in the third, fourth and fifth extra holes after fine approach shots to each.
On the fifth hole of the playoff, the 112th-ranked Coetzee — who finished with rounds of 66, 67 and 67 after opening up with a 5-over 77 — was always playing catch-up following his drive into the left rough. His sent his third shot to within 20 feet but couldn't drain the birdie, leaving Bjorn the simple task of putting out.
"This is my second win of the year and I'm thrilled by that," said Bjorn, whose renaissance this year continued at last month's British Open at Sandwich where he finished fourth. "When I get under the cosh, I'm feeling pretty good. Hopefully there's more to come."
It's the first time Bjorn, a two-time Ryder Cup winner, has won two tournaments in one year on the European Tour since 1998.
Wiesberger and Larrazabal — this year's BMW International winner in Munich — both shot 69s but exited the playoff at the first and second extra holes respectively.
Foster (72) disappeared at the fourth playoff hole, leaving him to rue his failure to wrap up the title in regulation time when he drove into the deep rough at the 72nd hole and landed next to a tree.
He then failed to get up and down in two, forcing the first five-way playoff on the European Tour since the 1992 BMW International Open — won by Paul Azinger of the United States.
A final-day meltdown was nothing new to Foster, who led or shared the lead in three previous tournaments this year — the French Open, the BMW International and the Scottish Open — without going on to win.