Mikael Lindberg gets unstuck on DP World Tour, Guido Migliozzi second
Mikael Lindberg captures the first career title on the DP World Tour and does so by winning the Turkish Airlines Open with an overall score of 278 strokes (66 73 70 69, -10). On the course of the National Golf Club in Belek, Turkey, the Swede was two shots ahead of an excellent Guido Migliozzi, second with 280 (-8), while Gregorio De Leo finished seventh with 282 (-6), in the midst of the race for success until the final bars. Also good was the performance of Matteo Manassero, 13th with 284 (-4).
Lindberg, 33 and originally from Stockholm, had taken the lead in the third round along with Portuguese Daniel Rodrigues and on the last day defended the lead with a solid 69 (-3), the result of six birdies and three bogeys. It was a round that allowed him to pull away from Rodrigues and fend off a comeback attempt by Migliozzi, who remained in the leader’s wake for a long time.
Behind the Swede and the Italian, in fourth place with 281 (-7), were Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, Holland’s Darius Van Driel and Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen. Seventh place shared not only with De Leo but also with Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia, while in ninth with 283 (-5) were France’s Ugo Coussaud, South Africa’s JC Ritchie, England’s Marcus Armitage and Japan’s Kota Kaneko. Further back, only 43rd with 288 (par) was France’s Martin Couvra, the defending champion.
For Lindberg, this was his first treble on Europe’s top circuit after 69 appearances, in which he had collected just four top ten finishes. However, the Swede was coming off a third-place finish in the Volvo China Open, a sign of a clearly improving condition. His list of achievements already included two successes on the Challenge Tour, five on the Nordic Golf League and one on the Swedish Golf Tour.
The triumph in Turkey earns Lindberg a check for $467,500, out of a total prize pool of $2,750,000, but more importantly it gives him first place in the final ranking of the Asian Swing, the third of the five “Global Swings” on the DP World Tour calendar. A result that guarantees him a $200,000 bonus, access to the nine tournaments of the “Back 9” (with richer prize pools) and qualification for two highly prestigious events: the U.S. PGA Championship, the second men’s major of the season scheduled for May 14-17 in Pennsylvania, and the Genesis Scottish Open, a leg of the Rolex Series scheduled for July 9-12 in Scotland.
Among the Italians, Guido Migliozzi signs a test of great continuity. The 29-year-old from Vicenza (71 71 68 70) climbed steadily up the leaderboard, moving up from the initial 37th place to the second final, closing with a 70 (-2) and being the only player in the tournament able to stay under par in all four rounds.
Regorio De Leo’s performance was also very positive. The 26-year-old from Biella (69 68 73 72) had been the leader after the second round and remained in the middle of the race even on the final day, before being slowed down by a slow-play penalty stroke on hole 11. An episode that probably also affected the finish of his round, which ended in par with four birdies and four bogeys.
