Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, playing only his fourth European Tour
event, claimed a remarkable victory in the Volvo Scandinavian Masters in
Stockholm.
McDowell carded a closing round of 67 at Kungsangen, the course he has
recently signed a contract to represent and saw for the first time on Wednesday,
for a 14 under total of 270.
A brilliant par at the 18th gave him a one-shot victory over playing partner
Trevor Immelman of South Africa, the £200,000 first prize and a valuable
two-year tour exemption.
Former USPGA champion Jeff Sluman and Norwegian Henrik Bjornstad were a shot
further back, Sluman bogeying the last when a birdie would have forced a
play-off.
"I've never been happier," said McDowell, who used a putter given to him by
Darren Clarke to single putt 12 greens in an amazing final round. "To win in
the fashion I did is an incredible feeling.
"I never dreamt I would do this well in my first six or seven weeks.
"I'm just so excited about what it means for me in the short term. I don't
have to go to the qualifying school, I don't need any more invites and I've got
somewhere to play for the next two years."
McDowell spent most of his 23rd birthday on Tuesday waiting for his delayed
flight from Manchester to Stockholm, and only had time for nine holes of
practice at Kungsangen on Wednesday.
But he opened impressively, firing a course record 64 in the first round -
which was subsequently beaten by Per Ulrik Johansson's third round 63.
"I didn't think while I was sat in the airport I'd be sat here with the
trophy now," added McDowell, who splashed out for a free bar for his friends
watching at Rathmore Golf Club - part of the Portrush club - and intends to buy
his mother Marian a house with his winnings.
"It's been one of those weeks. Things really seemed to go my way. I feel I
have not really played well but my short game has been much sharper, that's been
the difference.
"If Darren asks for his putter back it will be a very definite 'No'."
McDowell, who bettered Tiger Woods' collegiate scoring average while winning
nine events during three years at the University of Alabama, and helped Great
Britain and Ireland retain the Walker Cup last year, began the day in a tie for
the lead with Sluman and Fasth.
For the second day running he birdied the fourth and then eagled the fifth to
move into a two-shot lead, and after bogeying the sixth picked up shots at the
10th and 12th to stay in front.
A bogey at the 13th then dropped him back into a four-way tie for the lead,
but a birdie from eight feet restored his advantage.
The real drama was only just about to begin however. His drive to the
reachable 295-yard par four 15th finished under the lip of a greenside bunker,
but his second shot was a dreaded shank which found the lake surrounding the
green.
"I was in a state of shock, it all happened so quickly," added McDowell. "I
was going to drop the ball in the bunker but my caddie calmed me down and told
me we could drop near where it had gone in the water."
From there McDowell got up and down to salvage a bogey and then held himself
together superbly to birdie the next and get back on level terms with Immelman.
"I made a great putt on the 16th and forgot all about the 15th."
Both players missed good opportunities to birdie the 17th before Immelman
appeared to have the upper hand on the last when McDowell's drive finished under
the lip of a fairway bunker, the 23-year-old having to splash out almost
sideways.
"It was a case of deja vu, a carbon copy of what happened on Saturday," said
McDowell who bogeyed the hole in the third round. "I thought, 'Oh no, here we
go again. But I had a good feel where the flag was and hit a great eight iron to
two feet.
"Every boy on the putting green dreams of having a putt like that to win a
tournament and it was probably the highlight of my life."
Immelman's approach had flown over the back of the green and after chipping to
eight feet the 22-year-old saw his par putt catch the edge of the hole and spin
out.
"I thought I was a little unlucky on the last," said Immelman who also
finished second in the French Open earlier this season. "I thought I hit the
perfect drive but it ran through the fairway into the worst lie of the day.
"I couldn't control the ball coming out and over the green was where everyone
had trampled down the grass. It was all lying against me but I thought I hit a
pretty good chip and extremely good putt but it went the wrong way on me.
"All in all it's a good week but very disappointing for that to happen. I
just came up short at the end but hopefully I can get a win under my belt by the
end of the season."
McDowell's victory was one of the quickest ever in tour history.
Australian Jarrod Moseley won his first European Tour event at the Heineken
Classic in Perth 18 months after turning professional, but perhaps the most
relevant comparison is with Sergio Garcia, who won the Irish Open on his sixth
start as a professional in 1999.
Collated scores and totals after final round of Volvo Scandinavian Masters, Kungsangen Golf Club, Stockholm (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
(x) denotes amateurs
270 Graeme McDowell 64 73 66 67 (£200,142)
271 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 67 67 67 (£133,430)
272 Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 70 69 66 67, Jeff Sluman (USA) 69 69 65 69 (£57,609 each)
273 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 69 68 68 (£50,917)
274 Gary Evans 71 69 68 66, Adam Scott (Aus) 65 74 68 67, Matthew Cort 66 73 68 67, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 67 71 65 71
275 Peter Lonard (Aus) 72 69 66 68, David Drysdale 74 68 65 68
276 Alastair Forsyth 74 70 66 66, Warren Bennett 66 70 69 71
277 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 72 71 68 66, David Carter 71 71 67 68, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 71 66 68 72
278 Richard Green (Aus) 74 71 66 67, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 70 68 71 69, David Lynn 67 74 68 69, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 67 73 68 70, Adam Mednick (Swe) 72 68 68 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 71 69 67 71, Jamie Donaldson 72 68 67 71, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 70 66 71
279 Colin Montgomerie 70 69 74 66, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 70 73 69, Mark Foster 70 68 69 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 72 68 72
280 Barry Lane 70 68 69 73
281 Iain Pyman 74 70 72 65, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 71 73 66, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 73 72 67, Simon Khan 69 71 73 68, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 71 71 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 69 72 71 69, Charlie Wi (PRK) 68 75 69 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 70 71 67 73
282 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 74 68 69, Santiago Luna (Spa) 68 70 71 73, Robert Coles 70 71 68 73, Olle Nordberg (Swe) 74 70 65 73, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 70 74 63 75
283 Markus Brier (Aut) 70 71 73 69, Grant Hamerton 66 73 74 70, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 75 70 68 70, Mads-Vibe Hastrup (Den) 71 74 68 70, Anthony Wall 69 72 71 71, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 67 74 70 72
284 Ian Poulter 68 76 72 68, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 75 70 68 71, David Park 68 74 70 72
285 Mark Pilkington 73 72 71 69, Paul Broadhurst 72 71 71 71, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 73 70 70 72, John Bickerton 71 69 69 76
286 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 73 73 69, Marc Farry (Fra) 72 73 70 71, Raymond Russell 72 69 73 72, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 73 70 71 72, Ronan Rafferty 67 71 75 73, Fredrik Orest (Swe) 69 73 71 73, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 73 67 76
287 Raimo Sjoberg (Swe) 72 71 73 71, Graeme Storm 72 70 69 76
288 Jonathan Lomas 68 76 73 71
289 Gary Emerson 70 72 76 71, Nick Dougherty 71 68 75 75
290 Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 70 70 78 72, Stuart Little 71 73 74 72, Paul Eales 71 73 69 77
291 Pierre Fulke (Swe) 73 72 75 71, Andrew Oldcorn 71 73 74 73
292 Mark Mouland 71 73 74 74, Jamie Spence 73 72 67 80
294 Joakim Rask (Swe) 73 72 75 74
296 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 72 71 78 75
298 Andrew Butterfield 70 74 79 75
300 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 73 78 80
304 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 73 83 77
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