Gotterup holds off McIlroy to win Scottish Open

Scottish Open final leaderboard

-15 C Gotterup (US); -13 R McIlroy (NI), M Penge (Eng); -12 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), N Hojgaard (Den); -11 J Rose (Eng); -10 S Straka (Aut); -9 S Scheffler (US), X Schauffele (US), L Aberg (Swe)

Selected others: -8 V Hovland (Nor); -6 A Scott (Aus), -5 J Thomas (US); -4 T Fleetwood (Eng); +2 R MacIntyre (Sco)

Leaderboard

American Chris Gotterup impressively held off Rory McIlroy and the chasing pack to claim the biggest win of his career with a remarkable Scottish Open success.

The world number 158, who began the final round tied for the lead with McIlroy, displayed admirable nerve to register a closing 66 and triumph by two shots on 15 under at the Renaissance Club.

McIlroy's challenge faltered on the back nine and he shared second place with England's Marco Penge.

As well as winning £1.2m and his second PGA Tour title, 25-year-old Gotterup secured a debut appearance in The Open at Royal Portrush next week.

Gotterup fought back tears as he said: "I just hung in there tight and tried to keep it together.

"It's amazing. It's all hitting me. It's just so cool. I played really well this week and I knew today was going to be tough. I hung in there like a champ and finished it off in style."

Matt Fitzpatrick finished three shots off the top alongside Nicolai Hojgaard, while Justin Rose was one further back after posting the lowest round of the day with a bogey-free 63.

Xander Schauffele, who begins his Claret Jug defence on Thursday, ended on nine under alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Aberg.

Dane Hojgaard and Germany's Matti Schmid earned the other two Open places that were available for those not already exempt.

Crowd favourite McIlroy was the star attraction in the leading group but Gotterup - in just his second competitive outing on a links course - upstaged the world number two and several other star names.

Having started shakily with a bogey, the American recovered strongly to pick up birdies on three, seven and eight.

Fitzpatrick and Penge briefly were briefly among the leaders but Gotterup and McIlroy remained locked together at the turn.

That parity did not last long as Gotterup birdied two of the ensuing three holes to seize a two-shot advantage.

His lead was halved when he overshot the 15th green and made bogey, but he immediately fought back with a birdie on the par-five 16th where McIlroy could only make par.

The Northern Irishman failed to find a single bogey in his final 10 holes, but remained upbeat despite missing out on a second Scottish Open title in three years.

With The Open in his homeland up next, McIlroy said: "It was pretty windy and hard to get the ball super close. I gave myself plenty of chances coming down the stretch. Chris played a great round of golf. He was so solid.

"It's been a great week. I'm really happy with where my game is. No frustration, really. I'm really happy with where everything is. Looking forward to getting to Portrush tonight and getting out on to the golf course early tomorrow."