Dean Burmester closed out a solid week on Sunday at the Renaissance Course in North Berwick, Scotland, with a two-under-par 68 to finish inside the top 10 in the Genesis Scottish Open.
His round of an eagle, four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey gave him an 11-place boost up the leaderboard in one of the most competitive tournaments outside the major championships, as well as a timely surge of confidence ahead of the year’s final major, the 150th Open at St Andrews next week.
Burmester finished the week on two-under-par, five shots behind the winner, Xander Schauffele of the United States. Schauffele rounded off his Open preparation with a level-par 70 closing round for a tournament total of seven-under. That held off the last-round charge of Kurt Kitayama, who bogeyed 17 on his way to a four-under 66 as he missed out on the biggest win of his career by one shot.
Burmester got his round off to a flyer with his eagle coming on the third as he chipped in from the semi-rough from 16 yards on the par-five – that was after slamming his approach an incredible 324 yards after a mere 292-yard drive.
He was well and truly on his way with a birdie on the fifth, but he made double on six after he was unable to get out of the greenside bunker on the par-three on his first attempt. When he did get out, he two-putted from nine feet for a five. He bogeyed nine, and then made three birdies on 10, 14 and 16 before dropping another shot on 17.
That put him one shot ahead of a fast-finishing Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who carded the joint second-lowest round of the day with his four-under 66. That lifted him to one-under for the tournament and a share of 16th – and it also gave him a welcome boost ahead of the Open.
Thriston Lawrence and Branden Grace were in a share of 24th on level-par after rounds of one-under 69 and two-over 72 respectively. Unfortunately for Grace, he was unable to qualify for the Open with that performance.
Dylan Frittelli has qualified for the Open, however, and he rounded out a week of prep work in Scotland with a two-over 72 for a share of 47th on four-over.