The German Marcel Siem won with 274 (69 68 66 71, -10) shots, after a thrilling finish, the 81st Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna, on the course of the Adriatic Golf Club (par 71) in Cervia. With a long putt for birdie on the final hole, he caught Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin (71 70 68 65) and then surpassed him with another birdie on the first extra hole.
Completing the German triumph was third place with 275 (-9) by Jannik De Bruyn on par with the American Sean Crocker.
Marcel Siem, results
Among the Azzurri, four finished in the top ten, after a good performance. The best was Andrea Pavan, fifth with 276 (64 73 69 70, -8), who received the Emilia-Romagna Region Trophy.
He remained consistently high in the standings after leading the first lap. Immediately behind, tenths with 277 (-7), Matteo Manassero, Gregorio De Leo and Filippo Celli. Lots of emotions in the last round. McKibbin started with a 65 (-6, six birdies), the best score of the day, recovering from 36th place, setting the bar at "minus 10" and waiting for a long time in the clubhouse.
He was overtaken by Siem and the Frenchman Antoine Rozner and the Indian Shubhankar Sharma also tried, but in the last holes they gave in. Even the winner, who had taken a three-shot lead, was one hole behind the end, but made up for it with the feat of closing (71, par, four birdies and four bogeys) and then, on the same 18th hole , made another birdie against the Northern Irishman's par.
McKibbin got one of two spots in the field for the upcoming The Open (July 18-21, Scotland) and the other went to Crocker. Marcel Siem, 43 years old from Mettman, 533 appearances, brought his titles on the circuit to six. He is the second German to win the Open after Bernhard Langer, who achieved a double (1983, 1997), and with whom he won the World Cup in 2006.
Among his successes was the one in the Alstom Open de France in 2012, in which he overtook Francesco Molinari by one shot. It was his fourth race after a stop for hip surgery. The minus 10 was the score with the fewest strokes under par with which a tournament was won this year on the DP World Tour after the minus 11 of the South African Dean Burmester (South African Open) and Guido Migliozzi (KLM Open last Sunday).
For the title he received a check for 552,500 dollars (516,774 euros) out of a prize pool of 3,250,000 dollars. Pavan, who concluded his run with a 70 (-1, two initial bogeys then three birdies), was joined by Rozner, Sharma, the American James Nicholas and the Spaniard Adri Arnaus. Just above the middle of the ranking is the American Patrick Reed, 29th with 279 (-5), scoring in the 2018 Masters.
