France's Bourdy tops McIlroy for Hong Kong Open win

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HONG KONG (AP) -- France's Gregory Bourdy survived a late challenge from rising star Rory McIlroy on Sunday to win the Hong Kong Open, securing a berth at the European Tour's year-end championship in Dubai.

The Frenchman made four birdies and a bogey for a 3-under 67 in the last round and a 19-under 261 total to clinch his third European Tour title by two strokes. The win also moves him into the top 60 on the money list, qualifying him for Dubai. The $2.5 million Hong Kong tournament is the final stop before the $7.5 million Race to Dubai comes to a conclusion next month.

Second place was enough for McIlroy to move to the top of the tour's money list.

McIlroy faltered late on the back nine, narrowly missing out on the Hong Kong title the second consecutive year. He lost a playoff to Lin Wen-tang last year.

Overnight leader Bourdy said he tried to focus on his own score and avoided looking at the leaderboard until the 18th.

"At the start of the round, I wanted to play my game, to stay focused on my game ... I knew if I played minus 3 or minus 4, it was OK to win this tournament," the Frenchman said. "I had a fantastic week. It's my best golf week, my best golf day today. I played very consistently."

After making two birdies in the front nine, McIlroy made eagle on the 13th, then back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th to close within one stroke of Bourdy. But he missed a putt at close range on the next hole to drop back two strokes. Disgusted with himself, the 20-year-old from Northern Ireland tossed his ball into the crowd.

McIlroy finished 6-under for the day and 17 under for the tournament.

He said he was a little nervous and misread the putt on the 17th.

"I knew if I holed it, it was the only way I had a chance, so I suppose it was little down to that. But I read too much grain into it," McIlroy said. "I played lovely, really, really well. I thought I needed a low one and went out with the mindset that if I went lower than 65 then I might have a chance. But Gregory obviously played very well."

Despite the loss, McIlroy overtook Lee Westwood to lead the money race going into Dubai. Westwood continued to struggle on the greens at the 6,702-yard course at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, shooting a 4-over 74 to finish the tournament 1 under.

"I hit some putts I thought were great putts going in and they broke the opposite way. Just a bit of a mystery," Westwood said. "This week was just a bit of an off week. Nothing really went for me and couldn't get anything going.

Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen kept up with Bourdy early on but bogeyed on the 15th, finishing in a share of third with Italy's Francesco Molinari at 16 under. At No. 77 on the European Tour money list before Hong Kong, Derksen needed to finish second to qualify for Dubai.

After finishing in a share of 11th place, Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee built up an insurmountable lead to win a record third Asian Tour Order of Merit title with two more events remaining. The Thai player also won in 2001 and 2004.

"Winning the Asian Tour Order of Merit title really means a lot to me," said Thongchai, who has earned $976,694 on the tour this season. "The competition is always getting tougher and tougher and to win it again shows that my game is improving each year as well."

South Korea's Y.E. Yang, the first Asian to win a major, finished at 7 under, equal with European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie.