Scottish Open 2022: Xander Schauffele bags title, Kurt Kitayama, Brandon Wu, Jamie Donaldson qualify for Open

Xander Schauffele overcame a mid-round blip to win the Scottish Open, as Kurt Kitayama, Brandon Wu and Jamie Donaldson secured the second prize of qualification for the Open Championship.

The Scottish Open – the first event to be co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour – dangled the carrot of Open places for three players who finished in the top 10 who had not already qualified. Step forward Kitayama, Wu and Donaldson.

Schauffele opened up his round with back-to-back birdies to threaten a blowout.

The American had to get creative with a putt on five, as he had 14 foot to the hole but hit it roughly 27 as he aimed away from the target in order to bring the ball back around and down a shelf to set up a two-putt par.

He was plugged in a bunker on six and made a rare error, as he went straight at the pin but the pace took the ball into a trap on the other side of the green. He held his composure to get up and down for a bogey.

Further errors followed on seven and nine as he ended the outward nine with three bogeys in four holes.

From four shots in front, the world No. 11 had been hauled back. But he knew there were scoring holes on the back nine and he picked off birdies at 14 and 16 to secure the win.

Kitayama arrived in Scotland having missed the cut in 11 of his last 16 events. But under pressure, he delivered a brilliant display. He came up short, but secured second prize of an Open qualification slot on the back of a round of 66.

The highlight was a stunning bunker shot on 16. A terrible lie meant he had to play it on one knee. He managed to keep his spine angle straight throughout and was rewarded with a stunning shot to finish one back of Schauffele.

Wu and Donaldson both carded closing rounds of 67 to come from off the pace to secure their places in the field for next week’s Open.

Final Leaderboard

• Xander Schauffele, seven-under
• Kurt Kitayama, six-under
• Joohyung Kim, five-under
• Patrick Cantlay, four-under
• Tommy Fleetwood, four-under
• Brandon Wu, three-under
• Jamie Donaldson, three-under
• Cameron Tringale, three-under
• Matt Fitzpatrick, three under

Tommy Fleetwood is building confidence going into the Open, and he carded a 67 for the second day in succession to finish at four-under.

A run of three birdies in a row mid-way through the back nine raised the prospect of a late charge for the win, but he could not find a birdie on the par-five 16 and a dropped shot on 18 left him at four-under for the tournament.

Playing alongside Fleetwood, Patrick Cantlay is another player trending in the right direction and his 67 on Sunday left him level with his playing partner at four-under.

On his first appearance since winning the US Open, Matt Fitzpatrick produced a solid display to finish at three-under and tee himself up for a crack at the Old Course.

Jordan Spieth produced impressive golf for much of the week, but his title challenge was derailed by a double-bogey on 14 and a bogey on 15. He had a birdie on 16 to finish on two-under, and likely in a confident mood heading to St Andrews.

Rickie Fowler will be absent from the Open for the first time since 2009 after falling back on Sunday and failing to secure one of the qualifying berths.