Antalya: England's Justin Rose has regained the world No.1 spot after successfully defending his Turkish Airlines Open title by overcoming China's Li Haotong in a play-off.
Rose carded five birdies in a typically consistent display to take a one-shot advantage after 16 holes in the final round at the Antalya event on Sunday but bogeyed the 17th hole to slip back into a share of first with overnight leader Li.
Justin Rose is back on top of the world rankings.Credit:AP
Lacklustre putts on the 18th from both Li and Rose meant they both finished at 17-under par after 72 holes.
Both players returned to the 18th for the play-off and after Rose missed a birdie putt from 4.5 metres, Li surprisingly three-putted from just eight metres to hand his opponent the title.
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"A tough day for me, honestly," the 23-year-old Li said.
"I think I played well the whole week but didn't hole a few putts on the last and that was it.
"It's a pretty good round, especially against Rosey who's such a nice guy. Hopefully next time I can play better."
It was the first time Rose had successfully defended a title in his career and it moved him above American Brooks Koepka at the top of the world rankings.
"It's nice to get back there and maybe it's even sweeter to get back there," said Rose, who had spent two weeks as the top-ranked player in September.
"[Last time] I lost in the play-off to Keegan Bradley at [the BMW Championship] and I was pretty aware my play-off record wasn't great. This was the one I definitely wanted to win."
Belgian Thomas Detry and Spaniard Adrian Otaegui both finished with rounds of 65 to share third on 15 under.
Dane Lucas Bjerregaard and German Martin Kaymer ended the tournament at 14 under, a shot clear English pair Tommy Fleetwood and Danny Willett, and another Dane, Thorbjorn Olesen.
The best ranked Australians were Scott Hend and Andrew Dodt in equal 42nd on three-under par, while Sam Brazel was one under in 52nd place and Marcus Frazer was four over in 66th.
Reuters
