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Otaegui sweeps the competition at the Scottish Championship

Matt Wallace is still trying to find out what happened today at Fairmont St Andrews. The Englishman got under way on the final day of the Scottish Championship with a three-shot win against Porteous and four on Adrián Otaegui who, after giving the best lap of his life on Thursday (-10), had stayed far from that result in the two preceding days. The Donostiarra participated in the stellar game with that delay of four strokes and the pressure of needing to turn the situation around as soon as possible. But he not only depended on honing his game, but on the competition suffering in the cold and wind more than he did. If they had let him sign the Sunday script himself, he wouldn’t have brought him closer to his ember. Why After five hours of play, he ended up reaching the 18th green under the champion’s canopy, four strokes ahead The result of an impressive reading of the game and a beastly efficiency with the putter in hand.

Something clicked already on the first hole. Otaegui chased it with a putt of more than ten meters and Wallace marked it as a bogey. Two blows recovered On the first try. The tension remained only during the first round. Because after negotiating the 8 ‘the pirate’ of Goiburu he was already seen on the panels leading the Scottish event. Nothing stopped him. When he was not superb with the putter in less than five meters, his efficiency with irons made the job less pleasant. A recital with which he was beheading all his rivals.

Birdies at 1, 5, 7, 8 and 9. And the key moment of the tournament. After missing the 10 he was about to make a hole in one on the par 3 of the 11 and chained three more notches in a row, which he completed with those of 15 and 18. In total 10 birdies and a bogey for -9 on the day and a card of 63 strokes. His empathy with the Scottish course was evident in two significant data: he only scored six bogeys in 72 holes and on some occasion he hunted all the flags of the round except the one on the 16th where he played pair poker.

As winner, Adrián Otaegui pocket 156,825 euros -A pity because without the pandemic this event would have multiplied its profits- and will make you climb 97 places in the world ranking to stay around 155th place. It is his third win on the European Tour, but his first in the traditional ‘stroke play’ format. He achieved them in a ‘match play’ system based on direct elimination matches against another rival. They were the Paul Lawrie in 2017 and the Belgian Knockout in 2018.

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