KLM Open 2014: Daily Leaderboard Analysis, Highlights and More
The KLM Open returns to Kennemer on Thursday for the Dutch European Tour event, where home favourite Joost Luiten will be looking to repeat his 2013 triumph.
With the season drawing to a close, every player in the field will be looking to put on a strong display and hope to be atop of the leaderboard come Sunday evening in the Netherlands.
Read on for a day-to-day recap of the tournament.
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Day 4
Romain Wattel chose the wrong day to have his worst round of golf at the 2014 KLM Open. The three-stroke leader coming into the day completely fell apart, shooting a 74 and conceding his place atop the leaderboard. That cleared the way for the surging Paul Casey—who shot a whopping 12-under this weekend—to earn the victory.
While Casey couldn't replicate Saturday's epic 62, he needed just a 66 on the day to hold off Simon Dyson, Andy Sullivan and Eddie Pepperell, among others. Here's a look at the final leaderboard:
| 1 | Paul Casey | -14 | 66 |
| 2 | Simon Dyson | -13 | 65 |
| 3 | Andy Sullivan | -12 | 67 |
| 4 | Eddie Pepperell | -11 | 66 |
| T5 | Johan Carlsson | -10 | 63 |
| T5 | Pablo Larrazabal | -10 | 65 |
| T5 | Joost Luiten | -10 | 68 |
| T5 | Romain Wattel | -10 | 74 |
| T9 | Oliver Fisher | -9 | 65 |
| T9 | Richie Ramsay | -9 | 72 |
For full highlights, visit the video page of the European Tour's website by clicking here. The full leaderboard can be found here.
Jason Sobel of Golf Channel had the following to say about Casey's victory:
As he did all weekend, Casey owned holes Nos. 1-9, shooting four under there for the day. In total, he shot 12 under in the first nine holes, making his money on the front nine.
Wattel's troubles, however, came on the back nine, as he bogeyed Nos. 11, 13, 14 and 18. A birdie on No. 12 couldn't salvage what was a disappointing afternoon. It was a tough break for a golfer who could have forced a playoff had he simply shot par on the day.
Meanwhile, nobody played better on Sunday than Johan Carlsson, who shot an impressive 63 despite bogeys on Nos. 1 and 5. He offset that with six birdies in the first eight holes, adding three more between Nos. 12-18.
But this was Casey's day in the end. The player who came oh so close to shooting a 59 on Saturday kept his hot hand on Sunday and earned a win for which he laid the groundwork this weekend. Wattel was great early, Casey was great late. In the end, it was better to be good later.
Day 3
Romain Wattel continued his fine form at the 2014 KLM Open to grab the top spot on the clubhouse leaderboard after Round 3, shooting a round of six-under 64 on Saturday to give himself a three-shot lead going into the final round.
Overnight leader Pablo Larrazabal ran into a nightmare eight hole and tumbled out of the top 10 as a result, while Richie Ramsay and Paul Casey played clean rounds to keep themselves in contention for the title.
| 1 | Romain Wallet | -14 | 64 |
| 2 | Richie Ramsay | -11 | 65 |
| 3 | Paul Casey | -10 | 62 |
| T4 | Andy Sullivan | -9 | 66 |
| T4 | Peter Uihlein | -9 | 67 |
| T6 | Gary Stal | -8 | 65 |
| T6 | Simon Dyson | -8 | 66 |
| T6 | Joost Luiten | -8 | 67 |
| T9 | Eddie Pepperell | -7 | 66 |
| T9 | Andrea Pavan | -7 | 67 |
For full highlights, visit the video page of the European Tour's website by clicking here. The full leaderboard can be found here.
France's Wattel has been steadily improving his scores in the Netherlands and did so again on Saturday, recording seven birdies and just one bogey on his way to a round of six-under 64.
The Frenchman has been a consistent presence on the European Tour all season but is yet to win his first event. Colleague Jamie McLeary knows how good he can be:
"Wattel leading all day on @EuropeanTour and they've hardly mentioned him on twitter. No wonder public don't know how good he is #player
— Jamie McLeary (@JamieMcLeary64) September 13, 2014"
Casey equaled Larrazabal's course record of eight-under 62 on Saturday, and his day could have gone even better. Starting on the back nine, he scored five birdies and added four more on the front nine before scoring a bogey on the final hole.
His approach narrowly missed the pin before rolling off the green. Had he made the shot, he would have recorded the very first 59 on the European Tour.
As shared by the European Tour, he was still all smiles with his performance on the day:
The Englishman chases Wattel by four shots, one more than Scotland's Ramsay, who now sits in second.
Ramsay equaled his result from Friday, shooting five-under 65 to stay close to the French leader. Like Wattel, Ramsay has been a consistent presence on the Tour all year, and despite the three-shot deficit, he'll like his chances on the final day.
One man whose chances went down the drain in a hurry is Spain's Larrazabal, who set a new course record on Friday and appeared poised to build on that score in Round 3. Six straight pars and a birdie on the front nine made for a good start, before he missed his shot from the tee on the eight hole.
Playing from the rough, Larrazabal ended up recording a quadruple bogey seven, all but ending his chances of winning the tournament.
Local favourite Joost Luiten fought his way back into contention, overcoming a quadruple bogey on the second hole to finish the day with a score of three-under 67, per Europeantour.com:
Luiten will need a monstrous effort to catch the top three on the leaderboard, but with several strong golfers struggling with their placement on Saturday, there's no reason Sunday's action could be similar.
The KLM Open's back nine is fairly straightforward, but the front nine can sink a player's chances in a hurry. While Wattel has a nice lead going into Round 4, this tournament is far from over.
Day 2
Pablo Larrazabal set a new course record with a round of eight-under 62 on Friday, taking a commanding lead at the top of the clubhouse leaderboard midway through the 2014 KLM Open.
The Spaniard holds a two-shot lead over France's Romain Wattel and Italy's Edoardo Molinari, while local favourite Joost Luiten failed to build on his excellent first round and tumbled out of the top 10.
| 1 | Pablo Larrazabal | -10 | 62 |
| T2 | Romain Wattel | -8 | 65 |
| T2 | Edoardo Molinari | -8 | 66 |
| T4 | Peter Uihlein | -6 | 68 |
| T4 | Soren Hansen | -6 | 66 |
| T4 | Richie Ramsay | -6 | 65 |
| T7 | Andy Sullivan | -5 | 68 |
| T7 | Mikko Ilonen | -5 | 66 |
| T7 | Tyrrell Hatton | -5 | 67 |
| T7 | Thomas Aiken | -5 | 68 |
For full highlights, visit the video page of the European Tour's website by clicking here. The full leaderboard can be found here.
Larrazabal opened the day on fire, starting on the back nine and hitting six consecutive birdies. GOLFBOO couldn't believe what they were seeing:
He slowed down on the front nine with three more birdies and a bogey, good enough for a new course record of eight-under 62. Finding the green 16 times in regulation, Larrazabal hardly put himself in difficult situations.
His putting game was also excellent, and he told Europeantour.com he started thinking of the magic mark of 59 at one point:
"I started very fast with birdies on the first six holes and then I tried just to play golf and put myself in position to make some more but the round cooled down a little bit in the middle.
"
After starting with six birdies I was thinking, it is a par 70, I only need five more [for a first 59 on The European Tour]. The middle of the round it cooled down but it was a great shot into the last to finish with a 62.
I was aware of the 59 more than the course record. I thought about the 59 when I started with six birdies. I thought I only need five more to make the magic number, but maybe I put pressure on a bit more. I’ve a few course records around Spain but none on The European Tour, so it is nice.
It is tough to make birdies here but I putted great. I worked on Wednesday with my coach and my reading is a lot better - I’m making putts. I’m hitting the ball good, not as good as the past, but I’m making putts.
Peter Uihlein had a similar hot start, with five birdies and a score of 29 at the turn, before the 25-year-old dropped three bogeys to finish two-under 68.
The back nine was particularly kind to a number of players on Friday, as Wattel scored four birdies and no blemishes to put himself into position to make a run at the leaderboard.
Team ISM were proud of their two athletes:
The Frenchman carded five-under 65 with just a single bogey on the day, chasing leader Larrazabal by two strokes going into Round 3.
Wattel improved his driving distance by more than 20 yards and was a perfect four-for-four on his scrambles, playing a clean round of golf. He's been a fixture in the top 10 all season but is yet to win his first European Tour event, and he has a strong chance of doing so in the Netherlands.
Joost Luiten finished the day just outside the top 10, shooting par 70. The local was flawless on the back nine on Thursday but couldn't repeat his heroics in Round 2, shooting two bogeys.
Luiten's driving distance took a free fall, dropping by almost 130 yards on average. He failed to find the fairway once but made up for his struggles from the tee by going 15/18 on his scrambles.
Day 1
Luiten got his KLM Open defence off to the perfect start on Thursday, shooting a five-under-par round of 65 to finish tied for the lead with Scotland's Jamie McLeary.
McLeary was forced off the course after 16 holes when the first round was suspended due to bad light, play having been delayed earlier in the day when Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti was hit in the head by a ball.
The Scot was the only player in the top 10 not to finish on Thursday, with three players tied for third after rounds of 66—Gary Stal, Edoardo Molinari and Andrea Pavan.
Here is how things looked at the top of the leaderboard after the culmination of proceedings on the opening day of competition:
| Position | Player | To Par | Thursday Score |
| T1 | Joost Luiten | -5 | 65 |
| T1 | Jamie McLeary | -5 | after 16 holes |
| T3 | Gary Staal | -4 | 66 |
| T3 | Edoardo Molinari | -4 | 66 |
| T3 | Andrea Pavan | -4 | 66 |
| T6 | Thomas Aiken | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Estanislao Goya | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Maximilian Kieffer | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Daniel Im | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Andy Sullivan | -3 | 67 |
For full highlights, visit the video page of the European Tour's website by clicking here. The full leaderboard can be found here.
Starting on the 10th hole, Luiten got his round off to a solid, if unspectacular, start with eight consecutive pars before going birdie-bogey around the turn.
However, he picked up five shots in the remainder of the back nine with three birdies and an eagle on the par-five No. 7 courtesy of a magnificent long-range putt.
It could hardly have been a better start for the Dutchman, who was happy with his day's work, per the European Tour:
"It is always nice to shoot a 65. I played well and didn’t make any mistakes. That’s the key on this course, keep the ball in play and take your chances. For me it was a good solid round and I hit some nice spots. You have to take your chances. Sometimes you can be conservative and take irons off the tee but if you feel good with the drive you have to hit it and make a tough hole into a birdie hole.
"
McLeary's card was similarly impressive with just the one bogey, four birdies and an eagle in his 16 holes before the light became too poor to continue, per the European Tour:
The 33-year-old is looking for his first European Tour win and will hope to put himself in a good position for the weekend.
A two-hour suspension halfway through the day was necessary after Zanotti was hospitalised when Alexandre Kaleka's wayward shot struck him on the head.
The 31-year-old—winner of the BMW International Open in June—was treated on the course before being taken to hospital as a precaution. He provided an update on his Twitter feed:
Some top names sit well within reach of the leaders after one round. Matteo Manassero and Paul Casey are two of a large group who shot 68s.
Another man on two-under par, England's James Heath, cancelled out a pair of double bogeys with two eagles, one of which was an ace on No. 11 before he too had to stop after 16 holes.
With a whole host of players still within five shots of the lead, there is still all to play for on Friday with the possibility of major change at the top before the weekend.
Luiten has much to do yet if he wants to retain his title and would do well to put in another fine and consistent round on Friday, as he has some quality players ready to take advantage of any slips.
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