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Coetzee claims third place

Johannesburg - George Coetzee finished the Scottish Open in a tie for third after playing rounds of 66, 69 and 67 in the rain shortened event in Scotland.

Coetzee's 14 under par total for the 54 hole event was five behind Englishman Luke Donald, the world number one, who extended his lead at the top of the world rankings.

Coetzee, who recently qualified for the British Open, has made huge improvements this year and is now ranked 126th in the world after his second third place finish of the season. The first was at the BMW International Open in Munich two weeks ago.

Rain and thunder meant players were only able to complete their third round on Sunday and organisers made the decision to cut the tournament to three rounds.

The South African began his final round on nine under par, two behind the lead and with seven players ahead of him on the leaderboard.

Coetzee got off to a bad start with a double bogey on his first hole and made his way to a one over opening nine.

Coming home, he put together six birdies including three in a row to finish his round five under par and vault himself up into a share of third with no player threatening Donald's lead.

Coetzee's compatriots Retief Goosen and Ernie Els finished a shot behind him on 11 under in a tie for 14th place and two shots  adrift in a tie for 25th respectively.

While 'The Big Easy' signed for three good rounds, his putting still seems to be troubling him and using a belly-putter is taking time to adjust.

It was the 24-year-old Coetzee's second third place finish of the season having secured his playing privileges when he earned his European tour card in the qualifying school last year.

He currently lies 37th on the Race to Dubai - the season long money list - with earnings of €406 621 and is only one position behind Els.

Louis Oosthuizen is in 26th, Goosen 18th, Thomas Aiken 12th and Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel in second.

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