0
GLENEAGLES, June 13: Britain's Miles Tunnicliff led the Diageo Championship from start to finish to complete his second European Tour victory on Sunday two years after his first.
The 35-year-old closed with a bogey-free four-under-par 68 to total 13-under-par 275, five strokes ahead of fellow-Briton Graeme McDowell, the largest winning margin on the European Tour this year by two shots.
Tunnicliff claimed his first title, the 2002 Great North Open, when playing mostly on the Challenge Tour and after visiting qualifying school 12 times. After birdieing his opening two holes to extend an overnight three-shot lead, Tunnicliff never looked back and became the second European Tour 'wire-to-wire' winner of the season, following world number two Ernie Els in the Heineken Classic.
McDowell, who had sacrificed a chance of pre-qualifying for the US Open by going to Gleneagles, mounted a serious challenge with five successive birdies around the turn, but then double-bogeyed the long-16th on his way to a 67.
Leading final round scores:
275 - Miles Tunnicliff (Britain) 67, 68, 72, 68.
280 - Graeme McDowell (Britain) 69, 71, 73, 67.
281 - Steven O'Hara (Britain) 73, 72, 69, 67; Nick O'Hern (Australia) 67, 73, 70, 71.
282 - David Lynn (Britain) 71, 73, 70, 68; Andrew Oldcorn (Britain) 74, 73, 68, 67.
283 - Russell Claydon (Britain) 70, 72, 69, 72; Paul McGinley (Ireland) 68, 73, 73, 69; Raymond Russell (Britain) 75, 67, 70, 71.
284 - Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 72, 73, 69, 70; Richard Green (Australia) 69, 74, 72, 69; Gary Murphy (Ireland) 70, 74, 70, 70; Peter O'Malley (Australia) 71, 75, 70, 68; Anthony Wall (Britain) 74, 72, 69, 69.
285 - Ross Drummond (Britain) 73, 75, 69, 68; Anders Hansen (Denmark) 72, 74, 64, 75.
286 - Gary Evans (Britain) 73, 69, 69, 75; Greig Hutcheon (Britain) 74, 70, 72, 70; Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 74, 70, 67, 75; Henrik Nystrom (Sweden) 72, 73, 67, 74; Mark Roe (Britain) 70, 73, 69, 74.
287 - Peter Baker (Britain) 70, 72, 73, 72; Gary Emerson (Britain) 73, 70, 71, 73; David Howell (Britain) 73, 68, 72, 74; Santiago Luna (Spain) 68, 75, 67, 77; Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 71, 73, 71, 72; Richard Sterne (South Africa) 73, 72, 68, 74.
288 - Raphael Jacquelin (France) 72, 76, 69, 71; David Gilford (Britain) 74, 72, 70, 72; Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 73, 74, 69, 72; Ben Mason (Britain) 72, 72, 69, 75; Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 71, 70, 71, 76.
ROBERTS LEADS
HARRISON: American Loren Roberts shot a seven-under-par 64, the lowest round of the day on Saturday, to take the lead after three rounds of the Buick Classic. Roberts, 12 days shy of his 49th birthday, jumped to 12-under 201 and a one-shot lead over South African Rory Sabbatini (65) and Cameron Beckman (66).
Tom Byrum followed up his 64 on Friday with a three-under 68 and joined Britain's Luke Donald (70) on 203, two shots off Roberts's pace.
Leading third round scores:
201 - Loren Roberts (US) 67, 70, 64.
202 - Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 69, 68, 65; Cameron Beckman (US) 68, 68, 66.
203 - Tom Byrum (US) 71, 64, 68; Luke Donald (Britain) 67, 66, 70.
204 - Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 68, 68, 68; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 63, 70, 71.
205 - Sergio Garcia (Spain) 70, 67, 68.
206 - Brian Gay (US) 70, 68, 68; Kris Cox (US) 67, 71, 68; Dennis Paulson (US) 70, 68, 68; Phil Mickelson (US) 69, 68, 69; Fred Couples (US) 67, 65, 74. -Reuters
