Scottish Open 2015: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Sunday

Rickie Fowler reigned supreme at the Scottish Open on Sunday, as he perfectly prepared for next week’s Open Championship with his first-ever victory on the European Tour, as the Tour revealed via Twitter:

The American carded a two-under 68 to take the title, with a stunning birdie on the final hole leapfrogging him above countryman Matt Kuchar at the top of the leaderboard at 12 under.

Fowler has enjoyed two top-five finishes at the Open in his career, and he laid the ideal platform at Gullane Golf Club to further improve his impressive links CV. Here’s a look at the final leaderboard from an entertaining tournament in Aberdeen:

Position	Player	To Par	Sunday's Round
1	Rickie Fowler	-12
T2	Matt Kuchar	-11
T2	Raphael Jacquelin	-11
T4	Marc Warren	-10
T4	Eddie Pepperell	-10
T4	Joost Luiten	-10
T7	Luke Donald	-9
T7	Ross Fisher	-9
T7	Daniel Brooks	-9

Fowler began the day at 10 under par, two shots back of leader Daniel Brooks, and started in steady fashion with four straight pars.

It wasn’t long before he posted his first birdie of the day, though, as an excellent three on the fifth took him to the top of the tree at 11 under for the tournament, per European Tour:

He gave that shot right back at the par-four sixth, but he certainly looked in the mood for scoring on a day that caught a lot of players out.

Brooks, for one, lost his overnight lead almost immediately with an opening bogey before going on to record a three-over round and tie for seventh.

It looked as if Fowler was going to have a day to forget as he came to the climax of his round, too, with a bogey on the 14th seemingly taking him out of contention for the title. However, he responded brilliantly, with birdies on 15 and 16 moving him to 11 under and tied with Kuchar, who was out on the range preparing for a play-off.

Fowler needed a birdie on the 18th to secure his title, and he showed nerves of steel to put his approach within four feet and set up the championship-winning putt, as European Tour revealed:

Raphael Jacquelin, who joined Brooks in the final group, was still out on the course at 10 under looking to force a play-off, though, and he came perilously close to doing so.

With a wedge in hand on the last, the Frenchman almost holed out to take him to the top of the leaderboard, per European Tour:

Still, the day belonged to Fowler, and following his victory, he told European Tour that he’s looking to bring his form to St. Andrews in the Open:

"

Phil [Mickelson] mentioned to me win this and there’s a good chance you win next week so I had to take care of business. I don’t know what’s so special about links golf but it’s my favourite. The golf course can play so different day after day and it presents a new challenge. It was a good test this week at Gullane.

"

The win could take Fowler as high as fifth in the world, and that’s nothing short of deserved, either. Golf Channel’s Will Gray reflected on as much, praising the 26-year-old’s bottle:

Jordan Spieth is the heralded man to beat in next week’s major, but Fowler may have something to say about that, particularly in this kind of form. The American knows the ins and outs of links golf so well. He knows when to be conservative, when to be aggressive and, best of all, he has the composure to put it all into practice.

Fowler was the nearly man of last year’s majors, yet he could well be the main man this time around.