Forza Francesco – in-form Molinari scores Open triumph

A remarkable final round of the 147th Open Championship ended with Francesco Molinari holding the Claret Jug, the massively in-form Italian making a birdie at the 72nd hole to finish eight under par and triumph by two shots.

Molinari, a pre-tournament 33-1 chance, opened the final round with 13 consecutive pars, but a birdie at the par-five 14th got him to the head of affairs, three steady pars followed, then he signed off with a textbook birdie to make a Major breakthrough.

Molinari arrived at the Open off the back of magnificent form figures – 1-2-25-1-2 – so punters who followed the hot-hand got their reward. He won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, then the Quicken Loans National on the US Tour by an eight-shot margin.

His coach, Denis Pugh, revealed earlier in the week that the reason Molinari played in the John Deere Classic last week rather than the Scottish Open is because his charge is not a fan of links golf, but every course comes easy to a player when he is finding fairways and greens as easy as Molinari has been this summer.

Tiger Woods looked the likely winner midway through the final round, the 14-times Major champion reaching the turn with two birdies and seven pars, seven under par for the tournament and leading by a shot, the overnight leaders of Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner having got off to dismal starts.

Woods hit a stunning approach shot from a fairway bunker at the tenth, setting up a good birdie chance, and at that point he was matched at 2.58 on Betfair's exchange. The putt slipped agonisingly by, though, and the half-hour that followed completely changed the dynamics of the tournament.

An intense atmosphere beside the 11th tee – Tiger's heroics had turned that small corner of the course into a circus – may have unsettled the great man. Whatever the reason, the hole ruined his title hopes, a pulled approach followed by a chunked flop-shot, then a missed bogey putt.

The double-bogey at the 11th, which took Woods from one shot ahead to one shot behind, was followed by a bogey at the 12th, and suddenly Carnoustie was a much quieter place. The army of delirious Tiger supporters, who saw their man start the day four behind before standing over a putt to go two ahead through ten, were crushed.

A birdie at the 14th gave Woods backers hope, but his race was run by the time he missed a short birdie putt at the 18th, having to settle for a three-way tie for sixth place.

Italy had its first Open champion when Schauffele's approach to the 18th failed to find the bottom of the cup. Molinari carded a third-round 65 and backed it up with a 69, going the final 36 holes without dropping a shot, an incredible achievement given how difficult the pin positions were for round four.

Spieth was 21-10 favourite going into the final round, but the defending champion failed to make a birdie all day, his challenge faltering with a double-bogey seven at the sixth. He signed for a 76, dropping from first to ninth.

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