Robertson Takes Italian Open
They all took a dart at him, but the little fellow from Glasgow wasn't for turning. Or burning.
Dean Robertson -- born in Sarnia, in Ontario, Canada, to Scottish parents and a resident back in the old country since he was knee-high to a haggis -- made up a one-shot deficit on Padraig Harrington on the last day of the Fiat and Fila Italian Open at CircoloGolf Sunday and finished a stroke ahead of the Irishman.
Robertson took the title with a closing 68 and a 17-under-par total of 271.
The slightly-built, prematurely greying 27-year-old from Paisley made only one mistake during his final round -- a three-putt, bogey-5 on the 17th -- but it became something of an irrelevance when Harrington, given a chance to draw level with one hole to play, missed his par putt from six feet.
It left Robertson the richer by nearly £120,000 and pushed him into fourth place in the European money list and sixteenth in the Ryder Cup standings. All of that, believe it or not, was of secondary importance to the feisty little Scot.
What meant much more to him was the fact that he had at last shaken off the burden that he had borne since frittering away a lead with five holes to go in last year's Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth to fade to a share of fifth place.
"My experience at Wentworth helped me in a funny sort of way," said the former Walker Cup player. "It was my reference point for today's round. I think it stood me in good stead when the pressure was on.
"At Wentworth I was trying to fight the pressure, but today I went with it. I felt nervous, but I knew that was natural. I just told myself to keep going, try to enjoy it as much as possible and not get stage fright. I think I handled it all right."
And how. Nobody watching him as he went about his business throughout an afternoon that was riddled with attempted challenges could have guessed that here was a young man on the brink of his first European Tour victory.
He was 3 under par for the first nine holes -- birdies at the first, fourth and ninth -- while Harrington's own trio of birdies had a bogey at the fourth set against them to leave them tied on 16 under for the tournament.
In spite of that earlier bogey, it was only on the back nine that Harrington's bid for victory faltered. He dropped a shot at 11, seemed to recover with successive birdies on the 14th and 15th, but then fell away with bogeys on the 16th and 17th.
By the time the pair reached the last hole, Harrington was two shots behind. It was time for Robertson to take his valedictory stroll up the 18th fairway. He had made a mess of the 17th and he knew it, but in spite of standing on what he admitted later were shaking legs, he split the fairway with his drive on th closing hole.
A slightly loose second shot left him 30 feet or more from the cup, but any doubts that he might have had and any hope that Harrington might have harboured came to nothing as Robertson lagged his first putt to no more than a foot.
Harrington's final chance had gone, but he showed a good deal of character himself by holing a 15-foot putt for a birdie to give him second place and a cheque for £78,600.
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| Robertson poses after his first victory on the European Tour. (AP) |
"Dean played great," said Harrington generously. "He thoroughly deserved to win and, apart from his three-putt at 17 he didn't put a foot wrong all day. "
"The bogeys at 16 and 17 hurt me, but if I had to look back, I had a bad run between 9 and 12 when I had three opportunities to get up and down and didn't make any of them. "
"To be honest, I've neglected my short game, and it caught up on me. I would like to have won, naturally, but this is still a step in the right direction."
The nearest challengers to Robertson and Harrington were Phillip Price, Russell Claydon and Gary Evans, who shared third place.
Price produced the round of the day.
The Welshman, pushing hard for a place in his country's World Cup team alongside Ian Woosnam later in the year, scraped into the last two days of the tournament by holing a putt from 90 feet for an eagle three on the last hole he played in the second round to survive right on the cut mark of 2 under.
The prospect for Price was not an encouraging one but, almost unbelievably, he then played the next 36 holes in 13 under par, which included a magnificent 9-under 63 on this final day. Nine birdies were liberally sprinkled through his card with not the faintest whiff of a dropped shot.
"My aim after making the cut was to shoot 10 under over the weekend," he said. "I had a 68 yesterday and thought if I could go for another 6 under today, I would get a top-10 place. Instead, I found a 63 from somewhere, and this is the result. "
"It goes without saying that this is my lowest round ever, and it's also the best I've ever played. I was expecting to spend the weekend practising; it makes that big putt on Friday look pretty important, doesn't it?"
Meanhile, there was an encouraging finish from Seve Ballesteros, who had a 67, his lowest round since last year's Volvo PGA Championship and his lowest 72-hole aggregate since 1996 as he finished tied for 17th.
"Yes, that was very good," said Ballesteros. "Last week in the Spanish Open was better, also. My confidence is getting better. I am just keeping quiet and letting my game do the talking for me. "
"It will come, I feel. Quickly? I don't know -- I'm not in a hurry."
José Maria Olazábal, in muted form when he missed the cut in the Spanish Open the week after his Masters triumph, returned to form with a 66 and joint 13th spot.
"I did enjoy that!" said Olazábal. "I played really well, and that is the most positive thing I will take away with me from here. The adrenalin was running again -- it was good to feel that."
The adrenalin wasn't doing much for Lee Janzen. The U.S. Open champion completed a uninspired week with a 74 and a share of 66th place. On the day, on the week, he didn't hold a candle to the lightweight Scot with the heavyweight golf game.