Golfer Luke Donald sweeps to Scottish Open victory

(Reuters) - Luke Donald swept to a four-stroke victory in the Scottish Open on Sunday, tightening his grip on the world number one position going into the British Open.

A closing nine-under-par 63 in the third and final round of the weather-disrupted event at Castle Stuart for a 19-under 197 total earned the Briton a handsome win over Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson-Hed.

A share of third place gave rookie Scott Jamieson of Britain the final British Open slot on offer.

Donald gave notice of his intentions to clinch his third title of the year by coasting up to within a shot of the second round lead on Sunday morning when it was finally completed, following a day lost to heavy rain on Saturday.

A run of four consecutive birdies from the third then took Donald in front to stay.

Andersson-Hed, playing the course from the 10th, stormed through the field to capture runner-up spot with a 62, with four birdies to finish.

That kept the Swede a stroke in front of seven players in third place on 14-under, including Jamieson, who took his place at Royal St George’s as highest world ranked player in the top five finishers not already exempt for the major.

Double major champion Angel Cabrera, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, South African George Coetzee, Lorenzo Gagli of Italy, Chilean Mark Tullo and Martin Wiegele of Austria tied third with Jamieson.

World number two Lee Westwood was always playing catch-up on his rival for the number one honour after Donald headed him by two strokes when the pair finished their second rounds.

A third round 68 by Westwood left him seven adrift of Donald in a tie for 14th place.