Published July 17, 2008 on November 5, 2018

Rose Returns to Top of the World with Turkish Triumph

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Justin Rose defeated Li Haotong in a play-off to defend the first title of his illustrious career at the Turkish Airlines Open, the sixth Rolex Series event of the 2018 season and returned to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking in the process.

The Englishman also became the first player to successfully defend a Rolex Series title as he overcame China’s Li with a par on the first extra hole following a thrilling final day battle at Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort.

Rose started the day three shots behind Li but led by two with four to play as he produced the kind of consistent display that helped him record six top ten finishes in the 2018 Race to Dubai before arriving in Turkey this week.

An incredible eagle on the 15th moved Li back level but Rose duly replied with a birdie at the 16th to move to the front again. A couple of bogeys coming in, though, paired with Li’s dropped shot on the final hole, meant they finished tied at the top on 17 under.

A three-putt from Li on the first trip back up the par four 18^th hole then handed Rose his 11^thEuropean Tour win, and moved him into third place in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, as he joined his 2018 Ryder Cup teammates Jon Rahm and Alex Noren as a multiple Rolex Series winner.

Belgian Thomas Detry and Adrian Otaegui of Spain both signed for rounds of 65 to sit two shots behind the play-off places at 15 under par.

German Major winner Martin Kaymer and Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard were one shot further back at 14 under par, with English pair Tommy Fleetwood and Danny Willett, and another Dane in Thorbjørn Olesen at 13 under par.

Malaysia’s Gavin Green posted four rounds of 67-70-73-70 for total 8-under 280 finished tied 48 place.

 

Scores:

Play-off: Justin Rose 4, Li Haotong 5

267 J Rose (Eng) 65 65 69 68, H Li (Chn) 66 67 63 71,
269 T Detry (Bel) 66 70 68 65, A Otaegui (Esp) 68 65 71 65,
270 M Kaymer (Ger) 66 69 69 66, L Bjerregaard (Den) 70 67 66 67,
271 D Willett (Eng) 67 65 69 70, T Olesen (Den) 65 67 68 71, T Fleetwood (Eng) 68 66 68 69,
272 T Aiken (RSA) 71 65 66 70, A Levy (Fra) 67 66 66 73, S Horsfield (Eng) 66 67 68 71, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 68 70 67 67,
273 A Björk (Swe) 73 69 65 66, N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 66 70 68, S Lowry (Irl) 68 70 67 68, T Lewis (Eng) 69 63 71 70,
274 A Sullivan (Eng) 72 68 66 68, T Pieters (Bel) 75 69 62 68, P Dunne (Irl) 64 71 69 70, P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 69 68 69, M Schwab (Aut) 69 69 67 69,
275 J Luiten (Ned) 70 66 69 70, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 66 70 67 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 67 67 70 71, R Knox (Sco) 70 66 69 70, R Fox (Nzl) 69 71 68 67, J Suri (USA) 67 68 70 70, D Fichardt (RSA) 68 68 68 71,
276 R Paratore (Ita) 73 66 70 67, R Rock (Eng) 73 68 69 66, M Kinhult (Swe) 70 70 68 68,
277 C Paisley (Eng) 67 69 69 72, A Pavan (Ita) 68 75 64 70,
278 P Harrington (Irl) 65 70 71 72, J Campillo (Esp) 72 69 69 68, L Herbert (Aus) 73 68 68 69, M Korhonen (Fin) 74 71 65 68, H Tanihara (Jpn) 72 64 71 71, L Westwood (Eng) 66 72 74 66, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 67 71 73 67, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 71 71 66,
279 A Rai (Eng) 71 71 69 68, S Sharma (Ind) 70 72 70 67, A Johnston (Eng) 71 70 66 72, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 65 72 72,
280 A Wu (Chn) 66 71 71 72, D Burmester (RSA) 72 65 68 75, T Immelman (RSA) 72 71 69 68, G Green (Mas) 67 70 73 70, W Ormsby (Aus) 70 68 69 73, A Chesters (Eng) 72 69 70 69, M Wallace (Eng) 67 70 71 72,
281 M Kieffer (Ger) 70 74 70 67,
282 L Slattery (Eng) 70 70 69 73, J Lagergren (Swe) 72 69 70 71, J Smith (Eng) 74 71 68 69,
283 P Waring (Eng) 75 71 70 67, G Coetzee (RSA) 70 70 72 71,
284 R Sterne (RSA) 74 69 68 73, B Hebert (Fra) 71 69 76 68, T Bjørn (Den) 73 69 71 71, M Southgate (Eng) 78 70 68 68,
285 O Fisher (Eng) 71 74 71 69, J Dantorp (Swe) 72 71 70 72, J Wang (Kor) 70 71 74 70, R Fisher (Eng) 72 75 68 70,
286 S Hend (Aus) 73 74 67 72, M Pavon (Fra) 73 71 69 73, J Guerrier (Fra) 77 69 73 67, N Elvira (Esp) 71 72 72 71,
287 A Quiros (Esp) 69 73 73 72, B Stone (RSA) 74 70 70 73, S Kjeldsen (Den) 71 68 73 75,
288 R McEvoy (Eng) 75 71 68 74,
291 A Altuntas (Tur) 74 69 76 72,
299 T Yamac (am) (Tur) 78 79 71 71,
321 L Acikalin (am) (Tur) 74 79 85 83,