Italian Edoardo Molinari claimed his first European tour title when he won the Scottish Open Sunday with a closing three-over-par 74 in bad weather at Loch Lomond. Molinari's 12-under-par 272 total gave him victory by three strokes over Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, who led for the first two rounds. Clarke's 76 was still enough to earn him a place in this week's British Open one stroke ahead of Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin. Jacquelin holed a 50-foot putt on the last to total eight-under while Clarke slipped back to nine-under by three-putting the 18th. The winner's younger brother Francesco (72), with whom he won the World Cup of golf last year, took a share of fourth place, five shots adrift of his sibling, along with Swede Peter Hedblom (72) and Scotland's Stephen Gallacher (68). Starting only a stroke ahead of Clarke, Edoardo Molinari soon broke four clear of the Ulsterman, who ran up a double-bogey on the long third. Clarke took three strokes to emerge from a hazard. When brother Francesco, beginning the round five strokes in arrears of his sibling, also bogeyed the hole by straying on to the loch beach, the outcome of the tournament was in little doubt. Edoardo made mistakes in strong winds and occasional heavy rain, running up a double-bogey on 15 after hitting into the woods, to give himself a nervy finale before picking up the $743,500 first prize. With it came a vault up the world rankings to just outside the top 20 and sixth place in Europe's Ryder Cup world points table, now only two places adrift of automatic qualification for Colin Montgomerie's team. Francesco has climbed to fifth place in the overall European Cup table, with nine players qualifying automatically. Edoardo, 29, the 2005 US Amateur champion, had great success on the lower-ranked Challenge Tour last year, winning three times and totting up record winnings. He has now followed on from 27-year-old Francesco's 2006 Italian Open success. “This was the best 74 of my life,” the winner told reporters. “When I saw the conditions I felt you could have shot any number.” Clarke's old Achilles heel, his putting, bedevilled him but the Ulsterman still had his best result for two years. Creamer in front In Pennsylvania, Paula Creamer maintained her three-shot lead heading into the final round of the US Women's Open golf championship Sunday after playing the last five holes of her third round. Creamer, seeking her first major title, completed her second-straight one-under 70 Sunday morning for a one-under par total through 54 holes. American Wendy Ward was three shots back going into the final round, with three players - South Korean Amy Yang, Norway's Suzann Pettersen and American Christina Kim - a further shot back. Alexis Thompson, a 15-year-old playing in her second tournament as a professional, was five off the lead going into the final round. The teenager was the clubhouse leader when darkness halted play Saturday, when the tournament was still playing catch up after a rain delay Friday. Creamer, who is still playing with pain after surgery to repair a ligament in her left thumb, parred the 14th and 15th holes when play resumed. She bogeyed 16, but responded with a birdie at the tough par-four 18th.
