Singh lifts Scottish title after Warren’s collapse

Both prizes went instead to Indian Jeev Milkha Singh, who on a dream Sunday for him at Castle Stuart near Inverness came from five shots back and joint 16th place for the fourth victory of his European Tour career.

The 40-year-old world No 192 beat Italian Francesco Molinari, ranked 164 spots above him, with a 12-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a play-off as Warren tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

“I might need a little help to get to sleep,” said the 31-year-old, a Rangers fan, just to make his week even worse.

He added: “It’s going to be disappointing watching the Open (an event the World Cup winner has failed to qualify for 10 times). I had it in my hands.”

After playing the first 14 holes in a brilliant five under par in the first windy conditions of the tournament it all started to go horribly wrong on the 423-yard 15th.

He faced a 15-foot par putt after finding rough off the tee, but three-putted it for a double bogey six.

His next drive found gorse and after a penalty drop led to a bogey five, then he chipped far too strongly on the short 17th and let yet another shot go.

Suddenly he needed to birdie the par five last to be in the play-off, but into the wind he needed three to find the green and then missed from 25 feet.

Swede Alex Noren was equally gutted minutes earlier as he had taken a bogey six there to finish one behind Singh, who had set the target of 17 under par with a bogey-free 67.

Molinari, who started with a course record 62 and led after the second and third rounds as well, required a closing birdie to win and so emulate his brother Edoardo, winner of the title two years ago.

But he left himself having to hole from nine feet to keep his title hopes alive. He made that, but he could not match Singh’s four when they played the hole again.

Singh was assured of the Open spot going into sudden death because Molinari was already exempt for Royal Lytham.

It will be only his second appearance in the event. He missed the cut at Carnoustie five years ago.

“I just love links golf,” Singh said, although he had a different opinion when he first experienced it as a 16-year-old in 1988.

That was for the qualifying rounds of the British amateur championship at Royal Porthcawl and also Pyle and Kenfig. He shot 87 and 84.

“I thought ‘This is tough’. I wasn’t used to wearing raingear,” he recalled.

Singh’s father Milkha was known as ‘The Flying Sikh’, most famous for losing out on an Olympic 400m medal in a photo-finish in Rome in 1960.

A Bollywood film is currently being made about his life called Go Milkha Go, but on the final day in the Highlands it was a case of Go Jeev Go.

He birdied four of the first six holes, then added another on the 363-yard 10th and parred in.

It looked like three-putting the 337-yard 16th after driving the green and leaving a 14-foot attempt on the last short of the hole would cost him. But then came Warren’s collapse.

Singh said: “I was just enjoying a cup of tea and some chocolate cake and watching it on television – and suddenly got excited.”

His second win comes after some worrying back trouble.

“It’s been really tough, but I just stuck in there and worked on the physical side. Everything has paid off,” he said after earning £416,660.

Molinari finished runner-up for the second week running. Victory would have taken him from 10th to second in the Ryder Cup standings.

He is still looking good for a second successive cap, though. He is up to fourth.

World No 1 and defending champion Luke Donald stays sixth on the points table after finishing 16th with, among others, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Martin Laird.

Donald and Mickelson both headed south to the Open in good spirits despite scoring over par on the final day.

The pair were ninth and fifth respectively with a round to go, but dropped back to joint 16th with rounds of 73 and 74.

What pleased the two stars was that they had had a chance to test their games in wind and rain, conditions expected to be repeated at Royal Lytham this coming week.

Donald said: “I’m leaving here with good feelings about where my game is.

“I did get much out of the round – a few lip-outs and a few bad bounces – but it was nice to play in a bit of wind and test out what I’ve been working on.

“You had to hit penetrating shots and it felt like I had pretty decent control. Certainly good enough to contend next week.

“I had three weeks’ rest before this and I’m ready to go. I’ll even consider 18 holes each day (before the start on Thursday) if the weather is not horrendous.”

Mickelson, who asked for a late invitation to try to find his game after a poor two months, had middle rounds of 64 and 65.

“I think it was a great week,” said the 42-year-old, joint runner-up behind Darren Clarke at Sandwich last year after coming only 58th at Castle Stuart.

“To have two good rounds and then to play in some challenging conditions was a plus too.

“Players here got a lot out of the week, myself especially, and I feel a lot better than I did three days ago.”

He was not even in the top 120 with his opening 73.

Harrington finished on the same 12 under par mark after a 71 that included an adventurous bogey six on the second.

His drive was found on the beach under what looked like an abandoned door.

Caroline Masson held her nerve to win the South Africa Open by one stroke at the Selborne Park Golf Club in KwaZulu-Natal.

There was a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard heading into the final day.

However, France’s Joanna Klatten was unable to recover from a double-bogey five on the par-three fourth and another dropped shot before the turn, while England’s Danielle Montgomery and home favourite Ashleigh Simon both faltered over the back nine.

German Masson, though, picked up a shot at the par-five third and closed out with a run of pars to card 71 in a total of 215, which had included a first round of three-under 69.

However, she had to hold off the charge of South African Lee-Anne Pace, who after dropping a shot at the first rolled in three birdies for a day’s best equal round of 70.