Glasgow golfer Scott Jamieson was heading for today’s US Open qualifier in upbeat mood after securing his best ever finish in the BMW PGA Championship.
While Sweden’s Alex Noren claimed the ultimate honours in the European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth, Jamieson earned a share of 14th after a closing one-under 71 over the West Course which gave him a four-under 284.
Jamieson, who had been sharing the lead at the halfway stage of the £5.4 million championship, closed with two birdies at the 17th and 18th to move up the order and claim his highest placing in seven appearances in the Surrey showpiece.
Jamieson will now look to build on that momentum in today’s 36-hole qualifying shoot-out at nearby Walton Heath where a number of places for next month’s US Open will be up for grabs.
He said: Overall it’s been a good week. After two rounds it was looking a lot better than what it’s turned out but Saturday’s round was tough. That little stretch where I had a couple of double bogeys hurt me but if you’d offered me a top-15 place at the start of the week I would’ve gladly taken it. Obviously you want to be doing better than that but this is not to be sniffed at as I’ve never finished in top 20 before in this event.”
“I’ll be going for it at Walton Heath and there’s not much to lose. I’ve qualified for the Open before at Sunningdale so adding a US Open to the schedule would be nice.”
Eventual winner Noren finished with style and barged his way up the order with a spectacular 10-under 62 which was compiled some two hours before the last groups trudged home.
The 34-year-old, who has now won five times on the European Tour in the past year since teeing-off a profitable push with victory in last summer’s Scottish Open, posted an imposing clubhouse target of 11-under and the rest simply couldn’t match it.
Noren finished two ahead of Francesco Molinari as he landed the biggest title of his career and propelled himself into the top-10 of the world rankings.
Having been seven shots off the lead heading into the final round, Noren equalled the tournament record for the biggest comeback set by Simon Khan in 2010 and Rory McIlroy in 2014.
His sizzling round included eight birdies while he finished with a touch of class and launched a 5-iron into a few feet on the last for an eagle.
Noren said: “It’s probably my best ever round and I putted as good as I have done too. It's the happiest moment ever."
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