McIlroy No 1 as Manassero triumphs in Singapore

Matteo Manassero kisses the Singapore Open trophy. Picture by Getty ImagesRory McIlroy finished third to clinch the Race to Dubai title as Matteo Manassero defied heat, humidity and fatigue to win the Barclays Singapore Open after a play-off with South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen.

At the end of a marathon final day in which he eventually played 36 holes, the 19 year old eagled the third play-off hole from 15 feet to deny Oosthuizen a third victory of the season and hand the Race to Dubai title to McIlroy.

After Manassero and Oosthuizen had finished level on 13 under par at Sentosa Golf Club, the pair returned to the 18th tee to battle it out for the €770,226 first prize, with the Italian emerging triumphant at the third time of asking.   

“It’s been an extremely long day,” said Manassero. “The adrenaline kept me going and the key was starting really well this morning. Starting with some birdies gave me a lot of adrenaline to go forward.

“The play-off was just a great honour to play with Louis. This year has been a tough year for me going through a few swing changes, but this has been an amazing week. I’m glad this came in such a great tournament.”

Michael Hoey finished 63rd on eight over after closing rounds of 78 and 76 and is 49th in the Race to Dubai with €519,000.

Peter Lawrie, Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington all missed the halfway cut.

Lawrie remained 60th in the money list and will defend the last qualifying place for Dubai in Hong Kong next week.

Lowry is 22nd with €996,540, leaving him just €3,460 short of breaking the €1m barrier in a season for the first time while Harrington’s fourth missed cut of the season, and his first since the BMW PGA at Wentworth, leaves him 34th in the money list heading into the last two events of his 2012 camaign.