Dubuisson wins second Turkish Open title

Victor Dubuisson won his second Turkish Airlines Open title in three years on Sunday, shooting a final round six-under par 66 and denying Jaco van Zyl with a birdie on the final hole in the $7 million tournament.

Victor Dubuisson wins his second Turkish Airlines Open title in three years

TURKEY, 1 Nov 2015, (AFP) - The Frenchman started off in bright fashion, making a birdie in three of his first four holes, but was always playing catch-up after that when he made a double bogey five on the par-3 fifth hole, followed by a bogey on the seventh.

Despite making a birdie on the ninth, the 25-year-old trailed South African van Zyl and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat, the two other players playing alongside him in the leading group.

But van Zyl (67) and Aphibarnrat (67) both slowed down on the back nine, while Dubuisson reignited his round with a chipped-in eagle on the par-5 11th hole, and then made three birdies in his last four to finish with a 22-under par total of 266.

Van Zyl had a birdie chance from 15 feet on the last hole to get into a playoff, but he missed and settled for a par and second place at 21-under par 267.

Aphibarnrat was heartbroken when a birdie putt on the 18th from less than two feet lipped out and denied him a tied second place finish. He was third on 268.

Reigning BMW PGA champion Byeong-Hun An of South Korea added a 66 to his 65 on Saturday to finish fourth on 269, two ahead of England's Chris Wood (68).

World number three Rory McIlroy could not get going and a one-under par 71 round was good only for a tied sixth place at 16-under par 272 with American Peter Uihlein (68).

Dubuisson, who is expected to move into the top-35 of the world ranking from his current 69, earned $1.166 million and 1,333,330 points on the Race to Dubai.

He said he had faced a few personal issues this year, which he refused to speak about, which hampered his preparation for tournaments and also forced him to give up on his PGA Tour membership.

"I just keep it for me. But yeah, for personal reasons, I didn't play a lot, and not very great.

"My season, I was still 50 in the Race to Dubai, but I was expecting more compared to 2014 and 2013 season. Winning this week, I couldn’t dream of something better," he said.

But what perplexed him was the fact that it did not get him into next week’s WGC event, something he was really excited about at the time of holing his winning putt.

"It’s a big disappointment because it's a big, big tournament.

"But, you know, they always change the rules. You don't even receive an e-mail saying that the rules have changed," he added.

"When you win a big event like this one, go back to top-50 in the world, top-10 in the Race to Dubai, it’s not normal that I cannot play next week."

McIlroy, who started well with two birdies in his first four holes, struggled with both the putter and his hitting as he made three bogeys after that.

But the four-time major champion saw several positives as he gets ready to play the WGC-HSBC Champions next week.

"The game's definitely better, better than the last couple of starts I made at The Tour Championship and Fry's, and my ball-striking has been a little more consistent," said McIlroy.

"I feel I’ve got a new driver in the bag and a new ball and I’m excited about that. It’s just more of trying to get myself into these positions and just try to handle them better.

"Don't know if I was just trying a bit too hard out there or what it was. Whenever I get myself in this position, I need to get out of my own way a little bit."

The Turkish Airlines Open was the first leg of the four-event Final Series of the European Tour. The second tournament is the $8.5 million WGC-HSBC Champions, which will be played in Shanghai from Thursday.

Fourth round scores in the EPGA Turkish Airlines Open at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal course in Antalya on Sunday (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

266 - Victor Dubuisson (FRA) 69-64-67-66

267 - Jaco van Zyl (RSA) 61-69-70-67

268 - Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 67-68-66-67

269 - Byeong-hun An (KOR) 70-68-65-66,

271 - Chris Wood 66-66-71-68

272 - Peter Uihlein (USA) 68-69-67-68, Rory McIlroy 67-67-67-71

273 - Shane Lowry 68-70-69-66

274 - Lee Slattery 68-68-72-66

275 - Andrew Johnston 70-66-72-67

276 - Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 72-68-70-66, Jamie Donaldson 71-68-69-68, Danny Willett 69-70-68-69, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 67-69-70-70, Lee Westwood 64-71-69-72

277 - Ian Poulter 69-70-71-67, Richard Bland 67-65-72-73

278 - Alexander Levy (FRA) 69-65-74-70, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 70-70-68-70

279 - Graeme Storm 71-74-71-63, Jorge Campillo (ESP) 69-70-72-68, Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 71-69-71-68, David Lipsky (USA) 70-69-70-70, Julien Quesne (FRA) 67-70-69-73

280 - Anthony Wall 73-69-69-69

281 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN) 68-69-75-69, Tyrrell Hatton 69-70-72-70, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 72-66-72-71, Li Haotong (CHN) 72-68-70-71, Stephen Gallacher 71-68-70-72, Matthew Fitzpatrick 73-63-73-72, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 69-69-69-74

282 - Rikard Karlberg (SWE) 70-73-72-67, Gregory Havret (FRA) 73-72-69-68, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 70-68-75-69, Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 69-71-71-71,

283 - Richard Green (AUS) 71-70-72-70, David Howell 70-69-73-71, Graeme McDowell 70-65-73-75, Romain Wattel (FRA) 70-71-67-75,

284 - Gary Stal (FRA) 74-68-73-69, Marcel Siem (GER) 74-73-68-69, Thomas Aiken (RSA) 68-72-74-70, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 69-70-72-73, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 71-71-69-73, David Drysdale 69-72-69-74,

285 - Marcus Fraser (AUS) 69-73-74-69, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 72-69-75-69, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 68-69-72-76

286 - John Daly (USA) 77-71-69-69, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 67-74-75-70, Pelle Edberg (SWE) 73-71-71-71, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 71-71-72-72, Kristoffer Broberg (SWE) 71-69-74-72, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 67-66-74-79

Selected

287 - Trevor Fisher Jnr (RSA) 70-72-72-73

291 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 78-71-68-74

301 - Darren Clarke 75-71-75-80