Rose turns up heat on Fleetwood with back-to-back wins

BELEK, Turkey: Justin Rose set up a thrilling finale to the European Tour campaign by winning the $7 million Turkish Airlines Open on Sunday to claim his second victory in eight days.

The world number six, who overcame an eight-shot deficit in the final round to triumph at last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions event in China, rammed in a 12-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to pip Nicolas Colsaerts and Dylan Frittelli to the title.

Englishman Rose’s closing six-under-par 65 at the Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort on the south-west coast of Turkey gave him an 18-under total of 266, one stroke better than Belgian Colsaerts (66) and South African Frittelli (64).

Rose, who began the week trailing fellow countryman Tommy Fleetwood by more than one million points, has now closed the gap on the money-list leader to just over 71,000 points with two tournaments remaining this season.

“This is incredibly sweet,” said the 2013 US Open champion.“It’s like a bus, you wait ages for one and then two turn up at once.”It was a day of high drama on the par-71 layout situated between the Mediterranean and the imposing Taurus Mountains.

Frittelli gave spectacular early notice of his intent by birdying five straight holes on the front nine, including three remarkable chip-ins at the fifth, sixth and eighth.Triple major champion Padraig Harrington (67) then went from agony to ecstasy when he chipped in from 40 yards after finding water with his approach shot at the 10th.

The Irishman ended up in fourth spot on 268.Rose broke a logjam at the top of the leaderboard by holing a 12-foot birdie putt at the 16th but playing partner Colsaerts hit back with a birdie at the next.

Frittelli joined the pair on 17-under by converting a 14-foot birdie putt at the last.Rose then went back in front by sinking his putt at the 18th before Colsaerts missed from 10 feet.