Wolverhampton’s Aaron Rai claimed his second European Tour win – and first Rolex Series title – beating Tommy Fleetwood in a play-off at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. Pictures by GETTY IMAGES

AARON Rai defeated Tommy Fleetwood in a play-off to win his first Rolex Series title at the 2020 Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

The former HSBC Wee Wonders winner – famous for wearing two gloves – signed for a wonderful 64 to set the target at 11-under par.

But Fleetwood holed a 20-foot putt on the last for a closing birdie to take it to extra holes at The Renaissance Club, in North Berwick.

It was advantage Fleetwood off the tee as Rai found a fairway bunker.

But the 25-year-old rescued his par and when Fleetwood three-putted from just off the green, Rai claimed his second European Tour title.

A visibly shocked Rai said: “It’s incredible. I played a lot in Scotland growing up – dreamed of playing in a European Tour event in Scotland.

“To be able to play in it was incredible a couple of years ago. And to be able to go still further is an incredible feeling.

“I didn’t really see many leaderboards all the way around. I knew we had to play well – and knew we had to cope pushing forwards.

“But luckily I had a good couple of breaks and also played very well. So I’m very pleased.”

Rai picked up the winner’s cheque for €974,352.96. He picked up just under €300,000 for his first European Tour win in Hong Kong, less than two years ago.

Aaron added: “You have to play some world-class golf. But for it to be a Rolex Series – with the class of field this week – is deeply satisfying.

“And yeah, I’m incredibly pleased. It’s a dream come true.

“If I’m honest, to win any event on the European Tour is amazing,” added Rai.

Ironically, Fleetwood was his playing partner on that day too.

Tommy Fleetwood (right) congratulates Aaron Rai of England after winning the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club

Rai ready for Race to Dubai chase

VICTORY has given Rai some new goals to focus on for the rest of the 2020 season. That includes the possibility of being crowned European No. 1.

“The Race to Dubai wasn’t something I was thinking of. Or certainly winning it wasn’t something I was thinking of before this week.

“Any time you’re up there in the Race to Dubai – whether it’s winning it, whether it’s in the top three, top five – it shows a great degree of consistency with some really top results, as well.

“So still a long way to go in the season. But it’s a great spot to be in,” said Rai, who grew up in Wolverhampton, and recorded three Challenge Tour wins in 2017.

The latter included his maiden Challenge Tour victory in the Kenya Open.

That was watched by his mother Dalvir, who hailed from East Africa and returned to Mombasa for the first time in 47 years to see Rai win.

COVID-19 restrictions meant there were no fans or family to see his Rolex triumph.

Rai’s latest victory came after he finished second behind American John Catlin at last week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, at Galgorm Castle.

It moved the former EuroPro Tour player, who turned pro in 2012, into the top five on the Race to Dubai rankings.

He is now also inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking, moving from 183rd to 88th overnight.

Rai started wearing two gloves at the age of eight. By then he was already shining in the annual Wee Wonders event – organised by East Lothian-based pro Alasdair Good, with the UK finals held at St Andrews, every October.

Rai’s first EuroPro Tour win also came in a play-off in Scotland at Mar Hall in the 2015 Glenfarclas Open. That earned him £10,000.

Now Rai has an even bigger reason to love golf North of the border and Scottish links courses in particular.

Tommy blames putter for not closing door at Renaissance Club

Fleetwood tees off on the 18th hole during the final round of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open

FLEETWOOD was prepared to put his near-miss down to an indifferent week with the putter.

Tommy, whose fifth European Tour title came in last November’s Nedbank Challenge, said: “I hit a poor putt and that’s the end of it, really.

“Aaron played 72 holes very, very good, and it was Aaron’s time – and Aaron’s week. Congratulations to him.

“Obviously, I’d have loved it to have been me,” said the 29-year-old from Southport, who also missed a short birdie chance on the par–five 16th.

The Ryder Cup star added: “But overall looking back at the week, there’s so many putts that probably cost me going further in the tournament. But that’s golf.

“There’s a lot of areas in the game that you have to do well to win. One putt on 18 on the 72nd hole… putting cost me at the end. But that’s life and we try again next week.

“I played really, really good – especially the back nine. I felt really in control of my game, and nobody beat me over 72 holes.

“It was Aaron’s time and that’s how it goes.”

Overnight leader Robert Rock battled back with four birdies on the back nine only to bogey the 18th in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

Robert Rock left counting cost of bogey at the last

OVERNIGHT leader Robert Rock, who also hails from the West Midlands, missed out on a place in the play-off by one shot.

Rock had slept on a two-shot lead. He dropped two shots on the front nine, before making four birdies in seven holes.

But the two-time European Tour winner missed out with a bogey at the last for a round of 70.

Australian Lucas Herbert picked up six shots in the first 10 holes, to bounce back from a 79 in Saturday’s storm. His 65 posted the clubhouse lead at nine-under.

Scotland’s also Marc Warren – playing with Rai – bogeyed the last to drop back to nine-under after a superb 66.

Warren and Herbert were a shot clear of Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult, Woburn’s Ian Poulter, South African Erik van Rooyen.

Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington was a shot back in a share of ninth.

Oxfordshire’s Eddie Pepperell, Essex’s Matthew Southgate, Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and Finn Kalle Samooja joined the Irish legen on seven-under.

•For full results at the Scottish Open click here.

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Birdietime.tv chief exectuive Mikko Back (left) with Rufus Hack, the European Tour’s chief content officer at the unveiling of the new deal. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

THE European Tour and Birdietime.tv have launched a new online pay-per-view game improvement platform that connects fans to some of the world’s best coaches.

Birdietime.tv offers diverse set of coaching videos from the game’s leading coaches including Tour professional Robert Rock, putting specialist Phil Kenyon, Surrey-based Hugh Marr, Lee Cromblehome, Rob Goldup and 3D biomechanics expert Dr Mark Bull.

The latest addition to the coaching team is the recent Porsche European Open winner and Ryder Cup player Paul Casey and his coach, Peter Kostis, CBS’ long-time on-course reporter on the PGA Tour.

Instructional content will be regularly updated to ensure fans have access to the latest tips and techniques to help them with their own games.

Fans can either pay a monthly or yearly subscription to access the content or pay on demand per each video series they access.

Birdietime.tv’s Mikko Black said: “We are a platform for true golfers made by tour golfers – be it coaches or players.

“We are not just another video library, but a way to connect the best teachers to the most eager improvers – and we want the listen to the users on how to improve the platform as well.

“Having the backing and support of the European Tour allows us to grow our brand for the future, and we are looking forward to helping fans around the world improve their golf game.”

European Tour chief content officer Rufus Hack said: “Golfers around the world are constantly in pursuit of ways to improve their game and this new platform allows them to access content from some of the world’s top players and top coaches – the experts who help our leading professionals on a daily basis.”

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Jon Rahm claimed his second Irish Open and third Rolex Series tournament with a two-shot win over Andy Sullivan, Eddie Pepperell and Rafa Cabrera-Bello at Lahinch, in front of sell-out weekend crowd in County Clare. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

JON Rahm carded a sizzling 62 in the final round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open to become the first player to win three Rolex Series titles in front of sell-out crowds at the famed Lahinch Golf Club.

The Spaniard entered the final day five strokes behind leader Robert Rock but stormed to the top of the leaderboard after carding an eagle and eight birdies to get to 16-under – and win the Irish Open for the second time.

Rahm said: “I keep saying, I love is this tournament. I love this country. I love the people and feel like I’m at home every time I come.

“My game was in great form, it just didn’t show the first two days. I couldn’t hole the putts, and the weekend was the complete opposite.

“Putts started rolling in from everywhere, I felt really confident and I knew I could do something.

“I knew I had to do it today to have a chance, and man, I kept looking at the leaderboard and looking up, and after 10, I’m like okay, let’s get a good run and that eagle on 12 just completely got me going.

“Even though I had the little mistake on 13, I just knew that my target number was 15-under.

“Definitely thrilled with the back nine I had. Me and Adam (caddie) did a lot of work over the weekend to polish the mistakes over the first few days,” added Rahm who admitted he was excited to repeat his win in front of the Irish galleries and match the achievement of his hero Seve Ballesteros.

Rahm added: “I think Seve was the only Spanish player to win more than one and to join my name to that trophy again, it’s special.

“It’s probably one of my favourite trophies that I have at home, and to have another one, it’s definitely a special moment. I don’t know how to explain it.”

It was two years ago that Rahm lifted the trophy in his rookie season for a maiden European Tour win.

Rahm now has four titles to his name, with three of those coming in the prestigious Rolex Series – after just his 34th appearance.

The victory moves the 24-year-old to the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings and also takes him back into the top 10 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and England’s Andy Sullivan finished two off the lead, a shot clear of two more Englishmen – Oxfordshire’s Eddie Pepperell and Robert Rock – and Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello.

Sullivan, who has been slowly finding his form after achieving three wins in 2015 to earn a Ryder Cup place, said: “I just managed to get it around a number really. Stuck in there well. Mentally I was very good.

“I chipped and putted it around nicely. Not my best, but I was really happy to come up with the score I did and finish my round.

“It is getting better, I must admit. It’s starting to come back to when I was playing my best in 2015. Hopefully more of the same trending that way and I can get my hands on the trophy.”

Wiesberger and Rock earned places in the field at next week’s 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club, with their top 10 performances, as did England’s Paul Waring, who finished at 12-under along with another Spaniard in Jorge Campillo.

Wiesberger, looking for a second win in 2019 after his triumph at the Made in Denmark after a spell distrupted by injury, said: “I had a lot of time to reflect and work on some things on my game.

“A lot on the mental state I want to be out on the golf course and it’s a lot better. It’s just nice to see it pay off every now and then and getting to play a couple rounds in the 60s, seeing myself on the leaderboard again, it’s very nice.

“We’ve done a lot of good things out there this week and hopefully we can get do well next week in Scotland and then in Ireland.

“That was the goal. It was lovely to get a sniff at it again at Pebble Beach for the qualifier, and it’s great to be in position to play with all these guys in the biggest events, and there’s no bigger than The Open Championship and the Majors.

“I was really relaxed all week and enjoyed my time out there and took advantage of my good shots and really happy to be going to Portrush.”

The event at Lahinch GC, emulated 2012 at Royal Portrush Golf Club, by selling out both Saturday and Sunday – crowds totallling 86,793 came through the gates at the famous Old Course links.

Colm McLoughlin, chief executive of Dubai Duty Free, said: “That was another fantastic edition of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, and Jon Rahm is a worthy winner.

“This has been a wonderful week of sport, festivity and fun, there were sell-out crowds and a fantastic atmosphere both at the golf and in the village.

“I would like to thank and congratulate Paul McGinley, Lahinch Golf Club, the European Tour, Clare County Council, the local community and all who worked so hard and partnered with us to make this tournament so special.”

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