Malaysia’s Gavin Green has moved up 25 spots to 11th place on the European Tour’s Race To Dubai standings following his joint third finish in the Saudi International.
Playing with defending champion and former World No 1 Dustin Johnson of the USA, Green was one-under-par for the day after nine holes in windy conditions but dropped shots at 10, 11, 15 and 16 to fall down the leaderboard. However, the Malaysian No 1 stormed home with an eagle at the short par-four 17th and a birdie on the par-five closing hole for an even-par 70 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in the King Abdullah Economic City.
Green, who co-led after the first round with an opening 64, finished with a four-day total of nine-under-par, which left him tied with American star Phil Mickelson and Belgian Thomas Pieters who closed with 67 and 65 respectively.
Green also broke into the top 150 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time, moving up to 146th in the February 2 rankings.
The tournament was won by Northern Irish stalwart and 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell, who closed with an even-par 70 to finish on 12-under-par, two shots head of Johnson who eagled the last hole for a closing 67. McDowell’s 11th European Tour victory was his first since the 2014 Open de France and makes him a winner in three different decades.
The second edition of the US$3.5 million event boasted a star-studded field including World No 1 Brooks Koepka, Spanish star Sergio Garcia and reigning Open champion Shane Lowry. Johnson won last year’s inaugural event with a 19-under-par total, two strokes head of China’s Li Haotong.
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