(Reuters) – American John Catlin produced a brilliant round of six-under-par 64 to move up seven places on the final day and clinch his second European Tour title in three weeks at the Irish Open on Sunday.
Catlin, who won his maiden tour title at the Andalucia Masters earlier this month, carded three birdies in his final four holes in favourable scoring conditions at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.
The 29-year-old finished at 10-under overall, two shots clear of overnight leader Aaron Rai, who needed a birdie to force a playoff but bogeyed the final hole.
Australian Maverick Antcliff and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond shared the third spot at seven-under, with Swedish duo Joakim Lagergren and Oscar Lengden a further shot behind.
Catlin joins Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard and England’s Sam Horsfield with multiple tour titles this season and moves up to 14th in the Race to Dubai rankings.
“There are so many years of hard work that have gone into this moment,” Catlin said. “It was my goal to win again at the start of this week so to accomplish that is to do something truly, truly special.
“You never know if you’re going to win or not and to get that monkey off my back at Valderrama really freed me up today to know that I can look myself in the mirror and tell myself honestly that I’ve been here before and I can do it again.”
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru)
