Italy’s Francesco Molinari came up agonisingly short in his bid for back-to-back wins and a third Italian Open title as Thorbjorn Olesen held his nerve to claim the fifth European Tour title of his career.
The Dane shot a flawless closing 64 at Gardagolf to finish 22 under par, a shot ahead of the home favourite Molinari, who had won the PGA Championship at Wentworth the previous week.
The two players had been tied for the lead with two holes remaining, but at the 17th Molinari followed four straight birdies by dropping only his second shot of the week while Olesen birdied the same hole in the group behind to take a two-shot lead.
The Italian refused to throw in the towel and holed a curling birdie putt on the last from 40 feet to complete a 65 and pile on the pressure but Olesen got up and down from a greenside bunker for par to secure the first prize of £874,000 in the second Rolex Series event of 2018.
“This is my first time coming from behind to win so that’s very special to me,” Olesen said after a victory which takes him just outside the automatic European qualifying places for September’s Ryder Cup, when his compatriot Thomas Bjorn captains the European side.
“I always wanted to come up the leaderboard and take the trophy. I’ve never had that putt on the last to win a tournament so that’s why this one feels so amazing.
“I was standing on the [18th] tee and heard I was two in the lead, that’s why I picked the five wood from the tee. I thought that would give me a good chance to make four and worse case I would make five but I was standing there and saw that great putt he [Molinari] holed and that definitely put some pressure on me.”
Molinari said: “I’m super happy to be honest. It’s been an amazing week. I think I’ll never forget the run of birdies today on the back nine. Obviously a shame about 17 but I can’t complain.
“The putt on 18 was just unbelievable. It’s not really a putt that you think about making but in those circumstances you want to give it a chance. Sometimes there’s just something in the air that makes special things happen.”
England’s Lee Slattery finished alone in third after a closing 67, despite having to get a replacement caddie after 13 holes when Max Cunningham was unable to continue. “I hope he’s all right,” Slattery said. “He had a really bad back. Going up one of the hills he was struggling to breathe a little bit and we switched caddies, which affected me a little bit. I’d like to say not for his sake but I do think it affected me a bit. I hit a poor drive off the next and I didn’t hit many poor drives today. Just cost me a couple of shots and they were crucial at the end.
“But I’m delighted to finish 20 under par and third in a Rolex Series Event. That’s a big stepping stone for me. To come here and play like I did and secure my rights for next year, there’s so many things I’ve done this week in just one week.”
Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello was fourth on 18 under with Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Andy Sullivan a shot further back in a tie for fifth.
Bryson DeChambeau, meanwhile, finally got it right on his third try at the 18th hole and won Jack Nicklaus’s tournament, the Memorial, in a play-off on Sunday.
DeChambeau three-putted for bogey on the 18th for a one-under 71 to get into a three-way play-off at Muirfield Village. He missed the green from the fairway on the 18th on the first extra hole. On the third try, he hit his approach to 12 feet and holed it for a birdie to beat An Byeong-hun and win his second PGA Tour title.
Kyle Stanley also was in the play-off and was eliminated with a bogey on the first extra hole.
DeChambeau, who began the day with a one-shot lead, had a chance in regulation to secure his second win on the PGA Tour but his celebration was put on hold after he missed his par putt from eight feet at the last.
Tiger Woods began his day five shots behind DeChambeau and made an early move with an opening birdie followed by another at the par-five 5th that brought him to 11 under and within three shots of the lead.
But after a bogey-birdie start to the back nine, the five-times winner Woods dropped another shot at the par-four 13th where his drive went out of bounds and all but ended his hopes of an 80th PGA Tour victory.
Woods, in his last start before the US Open on 14-17 June, closed with an even-par 72 that left him six shots off the lead and in a share on 23rd place.