Herbert lands Irish Open glory and ticket to Open Championship
The Australian made it a wire-to-wire success, earning a place in the upcoming Open Championship in the process, as he finished with a 68 for an aggregate of 269, 19 under par.
Coming off a pair of top-20 finishes on the PGA Tour in June, Herbert kept up his good form in winning by three shots. Herbert won the Dubai Desert Classic last year and this week’s triumph makes it two European Tour titles in his career for the 25-year-old from Bendigo.
Second place on 16 under went to 34-year-old Swede Rikard Karlberg, a lowly 611 in the world rankings. Karlberg finished with three birdies in the final four holes to post a closing 67, while Johannes Veerman of the United States took third on 15 under after a 71, bogeying the last.
The top three will be teeing it up at Royal St George’s on July 15 for The Open, receiving the spots allocated to the leading players in the Irish Open who were not already assured of places in the major.
Herbert said of his win: “It’s a bit fulfilling really. I feel like I was probably nearly at one of my low points in my life when I played here two years ago at the Irish Open.”
At the Lahinch course in County Clare, Herbert had a 77 in his third round of that 2019 tournament before finishing with 65 to tie for 55th place.
