| The Australian – who has now won in back-to-back seasons following his triumph at the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic – entered the final day at Mount Juliet Estate with a one shot advantage and while he extended that to three in the early stages of his round, he would not have it all his own way.
After losing control off the tee, he had to utilise all his scrambling skills and mental strength to reach the turn in 35 and at that point, he had been caught at the top of the leaderboard.
But the 25-year-old produced a wonderfully composed performance down the stretch to get his hands on the famous trophy, coming home in 33 to finish at 19 under par, three shots ahead of Swede Rikard Karlberg and four ahead of American Johannes Veerman.
With their performances in the island of Ireland’s national open, all three have also booked their places in The 2021 Open at Royal St George’s in two weeks’ time.
English pair Richard Bland and Dale Whitnell, Scots Grant Forrest and Richie Ramsay and Italian Francesco Laporta finished in a tie for fourth on 14 under par, with American Sean Crocker, another Englishman in Andrew Johnston, and Jason Scrivener of Australia rounding out the top ten at 13 under par.
Player QuotesLucas Herbert: “It’s an unbelievable feeling. It’s just so – it’s a bit fulfilling, really. I felt like I was at one of my low points in my life when I played here two years ago at Lahinch in the Irish Open, and now to feel like I’ve done full swing and come back around and won the event that I was at a pretty low point at, it’s pretty satisfying. I’m very happy standing here right now.
“Obviously chip-out on seven and then make that really nice putt for par. And then just scrambled all the way down eight and made that; that could have been the turning point of the day, if those two putts don’t go in, you make two bogeys. To keep that card really clean out there and not come back to the field and give them a chance, I’m happy about that.
“And later the bunker shots on 15 and 16, I felt like I scrambled so nicely all day. I didn’t feel like I holed a lot of putts yesterday, so to feel I holed the putts today, so good, so good.
“A lot of soul searching out there. Trying to go back through anything that me and the coach have worked on before, and I lost one right there on five. So I played around with a couple of feels and they didn’t work. I hit one down 12, and I said to myself, that’s the one – stick with that feel the rest of the round, and I did. And it felt like we were back to where we were at yesterday.”
Rikard Karlberg: “The whole day is one of those days that you just push yourself. I haven’t played well the whole year, and you need a result, you know so much what’s going on around you and what you want to do. It’s four, four and a half hours, you’re pushing to stay committed; and then you’re almost thinking, I’ll go 19 holes, so I don’t get too nervous on the 18th hole.
“And right away when I saw that ball, like I have some stuff behind it but I know how to hit it; and if I land it there, somehow it just popped in my mind to hole it and it went in.
“I thought Herbert was maybe 18 or 19, but I’m not sure a little bit what the others have done. So it feels really fun to hopefully sign up for a spot next week, and it’s the British Open.
“It’s just crazy, this game. I mean, I’m into the tournament this week because a few guys were on a flight from America and it was from that UK, they had to quarantine. And you get the opportunity, and you take care of it, and times you feel bad for the other guys because it’s been really stressful this kind of thing we’re going through, even if we’re really happy with playing, it’s stressful. And so with that said, I’m so happy.”
Johannes Veerman: “Lucas played really well. I mean, he was just rock solid with his short game, so it’s hard to beat a guy who doesn’t drop that many shots. I thought I played really well today. I thought I hit it great off the tee. My irons were good.
“Made a good putt on 14. And then 16, just hit it long. Might have been adrenaline. Maybe had the wind wrong, not sure but it was right over the flag, advanced in the bunker and bad lie and made bogey.
“It felt like I picked up a shot and a half on that putt there because when I made that, I was shaking. And yeah, it’s great to have the fans back and everything like that. It’s really good. Playing the oldest championship in golf, it’s a dream come true to play the British Open. I feel so blessed to be playing in it.”
Colm McLoughlin Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free said: “Congratulations to Lucas Herbert who provided us with a very exciting finish to this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet. It’s been great that spectators were back and could enjoy all of the action in person.
“The fans greatly added to the atmosphere and the players enjoyed having them back. Well done to the European Tour and host venue, Mount Juliet who staged a very successful tournament while adhering to all of the necessary protocols.”
Final Scores:
269 L HERBERT (AUS) 64 67 70 68,
272 R KARLBERG (SWE) 71 67 67 67,
273 J VEERMAN (USA) 65 70 67 71,
274 R BLAND (ENG) 69 66 72 67, G FORREST (SCO) 66 67 73 68, R RAMSAY (SCO) 67 69 70 68, D WHITNELL (ENG) 67 67 71 69, F LAPORTA (ITA) 68 69 68 69,
275 S CROCKER (USA) 67 70 70 68, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 67 69 70 69, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 70 69 69,
276 M JORDAN (ENG) 69 69 73 65, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 66 73 68, T PIETERS (BEL) 70 69 68 69, A RAI (ENG) 69 71 67 69, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 67 66 73 70,
278 D HOWELL (ENG) 71 67 73 67, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 72 68 71 67, M LEE (AUS) 68 68 73 69, W BESSELING (NED) 69 69 71 69, J MORRISON (ENG) 70 68 70 70, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 67 72 68 71,
279 O FARR (WAL) 72 66 76 65, S LOWRY (IRL) 70 69 74 66, S KIM (USA) 72 68 72 67, C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA) 67 68 74 70, J HARDING (RSA) 69 70 65 75,
280 A COCKERILL (CAN) 68 70 73 69, M WARREN (SCO) 71 70 70 69, T KANAYA (JPN) 71 68 71 70, J WINTHER (DEN) 70 68 71 71, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 69 72 68 71,
281 P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 69 72 71 69, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 68 72 71 70, C PAISLEY (ENG) 68 71 70 72, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 69 71 69 72, C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 67 69 72, A ROZNER (FRA) 68 68 71 74,
282 M KIEFFER (GER) 71 67 74 70, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 68 72 70 72,
283 R H?JGAARD (DEN) 70 71 73 69, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 68 76 71, J WALTERS (RSA) 69 71 72 71, J SMITH (ENG) 69 69 73 72, D LAW (SCO) 73 66 72 72, C SYME (SCO) 69 71 71 72, D FICHARDT (RSA) 73 68 70 72, M KAYMER (GER) 67 70 73 73, J CATLIN (USA) 69 68 72 74, S BROWN (ENG) 68 69 71 75,
284 A BJ?RK (SWE) 72 66 76 70, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73 73 71, G HAVRET (FRA) 67 69 76 72, T TREE (ENG) 72 69 71 72, J GUERRIER (FRA) 68 68 74 74,
285 S SHARMA (IND) 74 67 72 72, A ARNAUS (ESP) 67 69 75 74, G MCDOWELL (NIR) 74 67 70 74,
286 R MCILROY (NIR) 72 67 73 74, B HEBERT (FRA) 70 69 73 74,
287 G PORTEOUS (ENG) 70 70 75 72, V NORRMAN (SWE) 68 72 74 73, D COUPLAND (ENG) 73 68 72 74, J SENIOR (ENG) 72 68 71 76,
288 A LEVY (FRA) 68 73 75 72,
289 G BHULLAR (IND) 71 68 70 80,
291 S JAMIESON (SCO) 68 73 77 73,
293 R JACQUELIN (FRA) 70 70 83 70,
300 K KITAYAMA (USA) 69 72 82 77, |
