SA's Stone romps to Scottish Open title, books spot in Open

Cape Town - South Africa's Brandon Stone won the European Tour's Scottish Open on Sunday and booked his spot in the Open Championship.

Stone shot a final round of 60 to finish on 20-under-par for the tournament to win by four strokes on Sunday.

The 25-year-old was three shots back heading into the final round, but eight birdies and an eagle on 16 later - the South African signed a scorecard of 10-under for the round.

Stone, who claimed his third European Tour title, almost shot the elusive round of 59 on the European Tour.

He had an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th, which he narrowly missed and tapped in for par.

Stone becomes the fifth South African to lift up the Scottish Open trophy - the last being Tim Clark in 2005.

There will be 12 South Africans in the field this week: Stone, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Brandon Grace, Ernie Els, Zander Lombard, Retief Goosen, George Coetzee, Dylan Frittelli, Erik van Rooyen, Shaun Norris and amateur Jovan Rebula.

The Open Championship at Carnoustie will tee off from July 19-22.

Leading scores after the fourth and final round of the Scottish Open at Gullane on Sunday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 70):

260 - Brandon Stone (RSA) 70-64-66-60

264 - Eddie Pepperell 67-63-70-64

265 - Luke List (USA) 63-69-69-64, Trevor Immelman (RSA) 68-64-68-65, Jens Dantorp (SWE) 64-65-68-68

266 - Thomas Pieters (BEL) 68-68-64-66, Rickie Fowler (USA) 64-66-68-68, Ryan Fox (NZL) 67-68-63-68

267 - Dean Burmester (RSA) 68-67-65-67, Justin Rose 67-66-67-67, Stephen Gallacher 70-66-65-66, Tyrrell Hatton 65-64-70-68, Aaron Rai 69-63-67-68

268 - Scott Hend (AUS) 66-69-63-70, Marcel Siem (GER) 66-67-65-70, Andrea Pavan (ITA) 70-66-66-66, Matthew Fitzpatrick 68-66-64-70, Richard Sterne (RSA) 65-71-68-64

269 - Charley Hoffman (USA) 67-66-68-68, Alexander Bjork (SWE) 67-64-67-71, Danny Willett 66-68-69-66, Gavin Green (MAL) 69-67-65-68

270 Haotong Li (CHN) 66-65-71-68, Sam Horsfield 67-65-69-69, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 67-69-64-70, Justin Walters (RSA) 66-69-67-68, Matthew Southgate 65-70-66-69, Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 65-67-72-66, Patrick Reed (USA) 65-69-69-67

Congratulations @BrandonMStone ???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/VCl7Gtd2cP

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) July 15, 2018