Richie

Ramsay

The 39-year-old Ramsay carded a 69 in the final round to finish at 14-under 274, earning his first title since the 2015 Trophee Hassan II. “The biggest thing for me was I made a promise to my daughter,” said Ramsay, who dedicated his win to daughter Olivia. “I don’t break promises to her. I said I would get her a trophy and this one is for her. It feels unbelievable. I haven’t won since my daughter was born and that’s six years.” Julien Guerrier, the 54-hole leader, made three bogeys in his final six holes to fade to a five-way tie for third place. The win vaulted Ramsay from No. 56 to 20th in the DPWT rankings. He’s playing this week in the Hero Open at home in Scotland, where he’ll make his third event start (T-28 in 2021, T-22 in 2020).

Ramsay was prepping to play a home game this week. He knows The Renaissance Club as well as anyone in the field. He won’t get a chance to put that local knowledge to good use, however. Ramsay was arriving with top 45s in five of his last six starts but will have to wait to extend that streak. The Scot currently sits at 45th in the DP World Tour Rankings.

The 38-year-old Ramsay arrives in St. Andrews on a wave of five straight made cuts that include four top-25 finishes, including a T-25 in his most recent start at the Cazoo Open. He also finished T-4 in July at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open followed by a T-15 result at the abrdn Scottish Open. “Any time you’re in and around St. Andrews, there’s a special kind of atmosphere,” said Ramsay, who finished T-22 in last year’s Hero Open. “It’s always a nice short drive and a warm welcome and somewhere I feel I can do well because of the conditions and the setup of the golf course. It’s always in good condition, particularly the greens -- it’s just a lovely place to play golf.” Ramsay also has experience at the Torrance Course at St. Andrews, which is serving as an event venue on the European Tour for just the second time after making its debut last year as the site of the Scottish Championship, where he finished T-33. On the season he’s 13-for-16 with one top 10.

The 37-year-old Ramsay carded four straight rounds under par – 68-65-66-68 – and had just two bogeys in 72 holes at Gran Canaria. He has steadily improved in his last four starts (he’s 5-of-7 in 2021), from a T-58 at the Qatar Masters to T-47 at the Kenya Open to T-42 at the Kenya Savannah Classic. Last season, Ramsay made 12 cuts in 17 starts but failed to post a top-10 finish for the first time in 12 seasons. He has won three times on the European Tour, the most recent coming at the 2015 Trophee Hassan II in Morocco. Ramsay’s distinguished amateur career included a victory at the 2006 U.S. Amateur when he became the first British golfer in nearly a century to win the title.

This week Sun City in South Africa, next week family time at the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai and last week in Turkey he was already looking forward to it. First, though, he must negotiate the famous Gary Player design and in the past he’s coped okay with the challenge, albeit in a limited sense. He was T25 in 2016 then T19 in 2017. His problem is that only twice in his eight laps has he broken 72; an opening 69 on debut and a second round 70 two years ago. He was T5 in the Open de France and then T32 in the Turkish Airlines Open.

The straight-shooting Scot was steady on day one with six birdies and just one bogey. That changed very quickly today as he opened with a double bogey at the par-4 first hole. Ramsay didn’t let things get carried away and instead bounced back with two straight birdies. His card would remain colorful with seven total birdies recorded at day’s end to offset three bogeys and the aforementioned double bogey. Ramsay started the week ranked just 175th in driving distance but 40th in driving accuracy. That’s usually a good recipe for avoiding big numbers at Le Golf National. That’s good in theory but in practice, he’d actually missed the cut in five of his last seven visits to this event. Ramsay is flipping the script and he’s now in a position to fire after his third top 10 over his last four events.

That’s just one back from clubhouse leader George Coetzee and Jordan Smith (-6 after 6). The Scot was T6 at Wentworth last month and followed it with T10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He’s missed his last three cuts at Le Golf National but cracked the top five here in 2011. Today, he outpaced a single bogey at 12, his third hole of the day, with six birdies. They came at 10, 14, 17, 3, 5 and 7. He said: “Because it’s a little softer than usual, you can go at a few more flags and play a little bit more aggressive off some of the holes with driver because the ball is not kind of bouncing into trouble. I think if you’re on, there is a score out there. But at the same time, if you’re just a little bit off, it’s easy to drop a few shots and then it becomes a little bit more of a battle rather than sort of 4-, 5-, 6-under par.”

A nice September fortnight of form transformed the Scotsman’s season. He was T6 in the BMW PGA Championship and then T10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, just the second and third top tens of his campaign and although he missed the cut in the Italian Open, he has been lifted to 60th in the Race to Dubai. Does he have much hope this week? Well, the presence of a T5 in his Le Golf National log book suggests maybe, but it was something of an exception. It came in 2011 and in his other nine starts he has missed five cuts, withdrawn once and never broken the top 40 in his other three starts. Moreover, he has not gone sub-70 since the first round in 2013.

Ramsay reached tied fifth with another strong display today and, to this point, he’s dropped just a single shot; it was a forgivable one, coming at the Old Course’s tough Road Hole. That bogey at 17 followed gains at 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 15 as Ramsay built nicely on his opening 65 at Kingsbarns. As a former runner-up in this event (2014) he was very much in the crosshairs this week having posted T6 at Wentworth on Sunday. “Just a lot of patience. I started off with five pars and feel like you’re falling behind. Then got the foot down, holed a few putts. Just picked off my shots,” he said of today’s lap. He now heads to Carnoustie, the toughest of three courses, for his third round.

The Scot was a happy man after he kicked off his campaign with a lap that left him just two blows back of the lead held by Justin Walters, and one back of the best effort in his rotation. He ticked the 11th and 15th on the back nine (his first) and then added more red at the first, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth. Afterward he said: “Big thing for me was like just keeping my energy playing a seventh week in a row. My confidence was high and I went out there, played just really steady. I need to keep chasing more birdies tomorrow at St. Andrews, because I just want get in the mix on Sunday. That’s my main goal. Get in the mix on Sunday, at the Old Course, back nine Sunday – those ingredients are just too good. That would be a dream to be there and have a chance to win.”