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Welshman Donaldson Wins Irish Open to End Drought
British Open Should Return to Portrush - McDowell
Welshman Donaldson Wins Irish Open to End Drought
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland, July 1, 2012 (AFP) - The 36-year-old Donaldson shot a final round 66 to win by four strokes with an 18-under par tally.
Donaldson went into the last round leading by a stroke but soon distanced himself from his rivals with three birdies in succession from the third hole.
He then dropped a shot at the 11th but bounced back with three birdies in four holes from the 12th before dropping a second shot in his round at the 16th but then finishing birdie, birdie.
"It hasn't sunk in yet but to be standing here with the trophy is all a bit surreal," he said.
Donaldson turned pro in 2000 after capturing the Welsh Amateur Open Stroke-Play Championship but it's taken 255 Tour events to finally savour success.
"I guess it takes some people longer than others, and it's taken me a lot longer than I thought to win," the Pontypridd-born player said. 
"The first three years went too quickly and then I was out for a year with injury, so I didn't find my feet too soon after that, and then I lost my way a bit.
"But over the last two to three years I feel as though I have been building to this win and it's just so nice to be finally holding this trophy."
It had been a positive week for Donaldson as he began in shooting a 62 at Sunningdale to qualify for the British Open and then he recorded a first-ever Tour hole-in-one on day one of the Irish event.
Donaldson earned a first prize cheque of 333,330 euros that has seen him jump 42 places to 21st on the Race to Dubai money list.
Three players, Londoner Anthony Wall (69), Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello (66) and Paraguay's Fabizio Zanotti (66) shared second place on 14-under par.
Wall, who trailed one shot behind Donaldson heading to the last day, bounced back from a triple hole bogey at the second to play the next 15 holes in six under par.
However a last hole bogey cost the 37-year old Wall second on his own.
Irish hopes of a Royal Portrush champion rested with Padraig Harrington who went into the last day two strokes behind Donaldson.
However the triple Major Champion stumbled at the first in taking a bogey on route to an eventual 70 for a share of seventh place with the Scottish duo of Craig Lee (68) and David Drysdale (66) on 12-under par.
"The game's good but I've got to hole more putts, and that was the key today," said Harrington.
"I've got this week off but then the Scottish Open so between this week and Castle Stuart, it should provide good preparation for Royal Lytham."
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy will sit out the next two weeks with his next event the British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes from July 19.
McIlroy posted a bogey free final day 67 to share 10th place on 11-under par.
"I just struggled with the pace of the greens all week, but it's nothing to worry about," he said.
Meanwhile, Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee and South African Richard Sterne qualified for the British Open after finishing the two leading players on a mini money list that ended with the Irish Open.
British Open Should Return to Portrush - McDowell
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland, July 1, 2012 (AFP) - Graeme McDowell declared Irish Open organisers have 'proven' their case and called on organisers of golf's oldest major to return the British Open to Royal Portrush given the overwhelming success of the Irish Open.
The British Open has been staged once outside of Scotland and England and that was in 1951 at the County Antrim links gem.
But after 130,785 people attended the Irish Open, including more than 30,000 on each of the closing two days, McDowell believes the R and A, as organisers of the British Open, need to seriously consider including Royal Portrush back on the championship rota.
And McDowell, as winner of the 2010 US Open, directed his plea straight at Peter Dawson, as CEO of golf's St. Andrews-based ruling body, the Royal and Ancient.
"All I can say to Peter Dawson is that we have run a successful event here, we've had British Open-style crowds with some 30,000 people coming through these gates every day," said McDowell after posting a final round 66 to share 16th place on 10-under par.
"There's been an overwhelming vote of success from all the players with regards to the golf course and they've love it.
"And while in my heart I would love to see the British Open come back to Royal Portrush, and while there are so many variables involved in getting The Open back here, all we can do is put our chips in the middle of the table.
"But I know we can do this and we can run a very successful British Open up here on the north coast of Northern Ireland.
"Yes, the British Open is bigger than the Irish Open, of course. It's just such a big machine, a beast but I feel we can handle that now and we've proved our case for that.
"It's going to require a lot of planning to cope with another 10 to 15,000 spectators but I am sure the R & A can find a way of handling routing the fans around the golf course, the seating and so on.
"I'm sure the R and A had its reasons and if the Open Championship doesn't return here it will be for very, very good reasons.
"But we've proven our case this week and we've talked long and hard getting the Open Championship back here and we've delivered this week."
Leading scores after the final round of the Irish Open at Royal Portrush on Sunday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 72):
270 - Jamie Donaldson 68 67 69 66
274 - Anthony Wall 67 71 67 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 69 71 68 66, Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP) 71 67 70 66
275 - Mikael Lundberg (SWE) 69 66 75 65, Mark Foster 66 67 73 69
276 - Craig Lee 73 68 67 68, David Drysdale 70 70 70 66, Padraig Harrington 67 67 72 70
277 - Francesco Molinari (ITA) 70 67 73 67, Rory McIlroy 70 69 71 67, Mikko Ilonen (FIN) 66 72 72 67, Ross Fisher 68 71 72 66, Paul Waring 69 65 73 70, Simon Dyson 67 72 71 67
278 - Richie Ramsay 69 70 72 67, Graeme McDowell 71 68 73 66
279 - Richard Bland 68 69 73 69, Gary Orr 68 68 74 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 72 70 66 71, Matthew Zions (AUS) 66 71 73 69, Edouard Dubois (FRA) 66 73 71 69, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 67 72 74 66
280 - John Daly (USA) 70 71 72 67, Lorenzo Gagli (ITA) 68 66 76 70, James Morrison 68 70 71 71, Bradley Dredge 68 71 73 68
281 - Romain Wattel (FRA) 69 70 75 67, Michael Hoey 70 67 74 70
282 - Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 65 71 75 71, Andrew Marshall 66 71 73 72, Jbe Kruger (RSA) 69 73 71 69
283 - Alex Haindl (RSA) 68 70 76 69, Gary Boyd 71 71 72 69, David Howell 71 71 72 69, Paul Lawrie 69 72 76 66, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 65 67 80 71, Simon Thornton 70 70 75 68