Colin Montgomerie has been crowned Murphy’s Irish Open for 2001, ending a thirteen month barren spell on the European Tour. Montgomerie secured his third Irish Open win courtesy of an 18-under-par total.
And there was plenty for the record crowd, again over 30,000 lined the fairways in the glorious July sunshine, to shout about as Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke finished tied for second along with Sweden’s Niclas Fasth.
The Irish pair both shot final rounds of 64 to finish the tournament on 13-under par. But even that remarkable effort fell short as Montgomerie himself carded a 66 to leave his nearest challengers five shots adrift.