Jose Maria Olazabal has eased Sam Torrance's Ryder
Cup selection headache by claiming his 19th European Tour title in the
rain-affected Novotel Perrier French Open.
Olazabal carded closing rounds of 66 and 67 as the final 36 holes were played
on Sunday to make up for time lost to rain on the previous three days.
The Spaniard birdied the last for a 12-under-par total of 268 at Lyon Golf
Club, two shots ahead of Preston's Paul Eales, Italy's Costantino Rocca and New
Zealand's Greg Turner.
France's Gregory Havret took fifth place on nine-under with another Frenchman
Marc Farry a shot further behind in sixth.
The first prize of £134,000 lifted Olazabal to sixth place in the Ryder Cup
standings and a successful defence of his Benson & Hedges title at the Belfry
this week would go a long way to securing his place in the European team.
"I was disappointed with what happened at the Spanish Open when I missed the
cut," said the double Masters champion who is concentrating on the US Tour this
season.
"If I want to make the Ryder Cup team, which I do even though it is not the
number one priority, it is very important for me to play well in the few
tournaments I am going to play in Europe.
"This is a very important step towards that."
Olazabal is one of several big names playing more on the other side of the
Atlantic this season and with only two wild cards at Torrance's disposal, the
European skipper needs the likes of Olazabal to qualify automatically to
increase his options.
"It feels great," the 35-year-old added. "I didn't feel all that
comfortable on the golf course. It was a good fight within myself just to stay
calm so I am very very pleased.
"I'm very happy with what I've done even though I know I should have struck
the ball better. I played very well but the quality of the shots needs
improvement.
"I was a little tired playing 36 holes especially with the course being so
wet and making it very difficult to walk on the fairways. But I never felt any
lack of energy playing the last few holes and that was important."
Olazabal and Rocca began the final round tied on nine under par after
completing the third round on Sunday morning, Rocca carding a superb 64 and
Olazabal a 66.
With no redraw being made for the final round to get the players round
quicker, Rocca was several holes ahead of Olazabal on the course and after
bogeys at his first two holes got back on level terms with the Spaniard with
birdies at the fifth and sixth.
Olazabal got his nose in front with a birdie on the third to lead Rocca, Eales
and France's Gregory Havret by one before a bogey on the seventh dropped him
back into a tie for the lead.
A birdie on the next had Olazabal quickly back in front, back came Rocca with
a birdie on the 13th.
The Italian then failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the
15th, left a long birdie attempt agonisingly an inch short on the 17th before a
birdie on the par five 18th got him back to 10-under.
That was briefly in a three-way tie for the lead as Greg Turner had also moved
to 10-under but the Kiwi ran up a double-bogey six on the 16th to effectively
end his chances, and seconds later Olazabal holed from four-feet after a superb
approach to the par three 14th to claim the lead again.
Turner meanwhile made amends with an eagle on the 18th and Eales birdied the
15th to join him and Rocca on 10-under and keep the pressure on Olazabal, but
the 35-year-old held his nerve superbly, pitching to six-feet for a birdie on
the 18th to seal the win.
Rocca may also be harbouring thoughts of a fourth Ryder Cup appearance after
showing signs of getting back to his best this week.
The popular Italian managed just one top 30 finish on the Tour last season and
slumped to 152nd on the Order of Merit but finished fourth in Argentina recently
and played superbly on the final day at the club where he won his maiden title
in 1993.
"This has been a good week for me," said Rocca, who famously defeated Tiger
Woods in the singles at Valderrama in 1997. "I'd like to play like this every
week.
"In the morning I played really well, this afternoon I made two or three
mistakes but I've enjoyed my game again."
For Eales a more prosaic goal had been all but achieved, the £60,234 prize
virtually securing his card for the 10th straight year on Tour after a scare
last season when he came too close for comfort to losing his playing
privileges.
"I thoroughly enjoyed it," said the 37-year-old from Preston who finished
12th in the final counting event of last season to secure his card by a narrow
margin.
"I knew I was coming into some form and it was great fun again."
Eales, one of the shortest hitters on the tour, added: "With a course like
this you would think a guy like me would stand no chance but I played really
smart golf and I suppose that is years and years of experience.
"I'm delighted for all my supporters and sponsors back home who have been
through the rough times.
"Hopefully this will be the start of things and with a putt here or there it
will be jackpot time."
Final scores:
(x) denotes amateurs
268 JM Olazabal (Spa) 66 69 66 67 (£134,624)
270 C Rocca (Ita) 68 69 64 69, G Turner (Nzl) 69 67 67 67, P Eales 66 69 67 68
(£60,234 each)
271 G Havret (Fra) 67 67 69 68 (£34,249)
272 M Farry (Fra) 68 65 71 68 (£28,272)
273 I Garbutt 68 71 70 64, P McGinley 72 67 69 65, A Hansen (Den) 66 68 70 69
274 P Lawrie 71 67 67 69, J Bickerton 70 67 66 71, A Cejka (Ger) 67 70 70 67,
J Berendt (Arg) 66 71 69 68, P Gribben 68 68 68 70, J McLean (Aus) 65 71 69 69,
N Cheetham 67 69 66 72
275 P O'Malley (Aus) 72 67 70 66, S Leaney (Aus) 72 67 66 70, S Kjeldsen (Den)
70 68 71 66, B Rumford (Aus) 68 70 69 68, J Haeggman (Swe) 68 70 67 70, A Wall
69 68 67 71, M Pilkington 70 66 69 70, D Hospital (Spa) 69 67 66 73, R
Winchester 66 69 72 68, D Botes (Rsa) 67 68 71 69
276 P Walton 68 71 68 69, R Green (Aus) 68 69 70 69, H Walters (Rsa) 69 68 70
69, D Borrego (Spa) 69 68 69 70, R Claydon 68 68 68 72, E Romero (Arg) 67 73 68
68, A Forsbrand (Swe) 65 70 70 71, T Dier (Ger) 69 71 70 66
277 A Marshall 66 71 70 70, F Andersson (Swe) 68 71 69 69
278 J Lomas 65 72 69 72, S Webster 68 71 65 74, R Coles 67 69 71 71, P Hanson
(Swe) 71 65 72 70
279 R Gonzalez (Arg) 70 68 69 72, N Henning (Rsa) 73 66 70 70, M Roe 72 67 71
69, I Garrido (Spa) 68 69 71 71, P Baker 69 68 71 71, J Senden (Aus) 69 68 72
70, C Cevaer (Fra) 69 71 67 72, H Bjornstad (Nor) 72 68 63 76, M Davis 67 68 77
67, D Lee 64 71 68 76, P Nyman (Swe) 68 72 75 64
280 W Bennett 65 73 75 67, O Edmond (Fra) 70 69 71 70, A Raitt 69 71 72 68,
(x) F Delamontagne (Fra) 72 68 71 69
281 G Murphy 70 69 73 69, O Karlsson (Swe) 70 69 69 73, J Rivero (Spa) 68 70
71 72, R Drummond 67 72 72 70, J Robinson 67 69 74 71
282 TJ Munoz (Spa) 69 70 71 72, D Park 70 68 74 70, E Simsek (Ger) 67 72 72
71, MA Martin (Spa) 71 69 68 74, G Evans 68 67 76 71
283 J Moseley (Aus) 63 75 74 71, V Phillips 68 72 72 71, N Joakimides (Fra) 67
73 68 75
284 E Boult (Nzl) 69 70 70 75, G Houston 66 71 76 71, J Spence 69 70 69 76, H
Otto (Rsa) 69 70 75 70
285 J Hobday (Rsa) 67 72 73 73, B Lane 71 68 74 72
286 T Gogele (Ger) 69 70 74 73
287 M Florioli (Ita) 68 72 72 75
288 M Reale (Ita) 69 70 78 71
292 L Alexandre (Fra) 69 70 80 73, T Immelman (Rsa) 71 69 77 75, C Benians 69
71 76 76
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