Leaney lifts the Linde German Masters trophy (Allsport)
By Phil Casey, PA Sport, Cologne
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Australia's Stephen Leaney held off the challenge of home favourite Alex
Cejka to win the Linde German Masters in Cologne.
Leaney carded a final-round 67 at Gut Larchenhof for a 22-under total of 266
to claim his fourth European Tour title and the £315,000 first prize.
The victory also gave him a five-year tour exemption and entry into next
week's US dollar 5.5million American Express Championships at Mount Juliet in
Ireland.
Cejka bravely saved par on the last to fire a closing 68 to finish alone in
second a shot behind, Ryder Cup vice-captain Ian Woosnam and young English duo
Paul Casey and Nick Dougherty sharing third another stroke back.
Casey had held a two-shot lead overnight but was soon caught and overtaken as
Woosnam and Worthing's Gary Evans birdied three of the first four holes.
Leaney then took over the lead with a superb approach to two feet giving him
his fourth birdie of the day on the eighth, and he was never to be headed from
then on.
The 33-year-old, who is based in Camberley in Surrey when playing the European
Tour, could only manage one more birdie on the 10th to set up a tense finale.
But he held his nerve with eight straight pars while Cejka and Woosnam both
dropped crucial shots on the closing stretch.
"Obviously I'm off to Ireland now but I think my wife is going back to
Australia for a few weeks," said Leaney after claiming his fourth tour title.
"I guess I'll have some parties to catch up on when I get home.
"It's great to have that five-year exemption under my belt and great to win
again. It's been two years and you do wonder if you will win again and it's nice
to win a big tournament.
"This is a major event on a course that I think is very difficult and to
shoot the scores I did is very satisfying. It's great to put yourself under
pressure situations and hit the shots you have to hit.
"I learnt a bit from last year (when he was one off the lead going into the
final round and shot a 77 to finish 32nd) when I did not cope well mentally and
got upset with myself.
"Today I was able to stay relaxed and keep all the thoughts about exemptions
and money out of my brain."
Leaney still plans to try and earn his United States tour card later this
year, adding: "The European Tour has been very good to me and I don't want to
leave but to make myself the best player I can be you have to go to the States
and play against the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson every week."
Leaney's victory lifted him from 38th to 10th on the Order of Merit to confirm
his place in next week's lucrative event in Ireland which has a guaranteed
minimum pay-out of US dollars 25,000 for every player in the limited field.
The top-20 players on the money list after Sunday qualify to play in Ireland,
and Evans' sixth-place finish was enough to move him 23rd at the start of the
week to 19th.
Faldo was not so fortunate however, the six-time major winner remaining 21st
despite a closing round of 67 that gave him a tie for 23rd place.
That would have been enough to get into the top 20 but for Leaney and Evans
overtaking him, Open championship runner-up Thomas Levet also missing out after
falling from 19th to 22nd by missing the cut in Cologne.
Collated scores and totals (Gbr&Irl unless stated, Par 72) (x) denotes amateurs
266 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 64 69 66 67 (£315,541)
267 Alex Cejka (Ger) 68 68 63 68 (£210,358)
268 Nick Dougherty 68 65 69 66, Ian Woosnam 68 64 68 68, Paul Casey 68 67 62
71 (£97,817 each)
269 Gary Evans 67 68 65 69 (£66,263)
270 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 69 66 67, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 67 69 66 68
(£52,064 each)
272 Colin Montgomerie 71 66 68 67 (£42,408)
273 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 68 70 66 69, Warren Bennett 67 66 70 70
274 Padraig Harrington 69 66 71 68, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 69 71 66 68
275 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 69 67 71 68, David Lynn 70 69 65 71
276 Alastair Forsyth 69 71 73 63, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 67 70 70 69, Peter
O'Malley (Aus) 67 72 68 69, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 68 68 69 71, Patrik Sjoland
(Swe) 71 68 66 71, Mark Pilkington 65 69 70 72, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 70 68 64
74
277 Nick Faldo 71 70 69 67, Bradley Dredge 69 69 71 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe)
68 72 69 68, Brian Davis 68 72 68 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 69 67 69,
Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 70 68 70, Anthony Wall 70 65 71 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 65 70
69 73
278 David Howell 70 69 72 67, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 67 70 67, Jarrod
Moseley (Aus) 70 71 70 67, Jonathan Lomas 67 72 71 68, Gary Emerson 71 70 66 71,
Steve Webster 70 68 68 72
279 Raymond Russell 71 70 71 67, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 65 74 69, Darren
Fichardt (Rsa) 67 69 73 70, Barry Lane 72 70 67 70, Richard Bland 67 70 71 71,
Marc Farry (Fra) 74 66 68 71, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 69 67 71, Jamie Donaldson 67 71
69 72, David Carter 68 67 70 74
280 Anders Hansen (Den) 69 71 72 68, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 72 71 69, Soren
Hansen (Den) 67 72 71 70, Jamie Spence 71 71 68 70
281 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 71 75 65, Tobias Dier (Ger) 73 69 69 70, Lee
Westwood 70 67 73 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 70 69 72, Miguel Angel Martin
(Spa) 71 67 70 73, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 70 69 69 73, Michele Reale (Ita) 68 74
66 73
282 Peter Fowler (Aus) 68 73 72 69, Ian Poulter 72 68 71 71, Richard Green
(Aus) 71 67 72 72, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 70 68 72
283 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 70 72 71 70, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 70 70 72 71, Carl
Suneson (Spa) 70 70 72 71, Mark James 72 69 70 72, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 71 71
68 73
285 Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 70 72 70 73, Graeme McDowell 73 68 70 74, Stephen
Dodd 71 70 68 76, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 69 69 77
286 Paul McGinley 70 70 71 75, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 74 68 68 76
288 Christopher Hanell (Swe) 75 67 76 70
290 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 69 75 75
291 Anders Forsbrand (Swe) 68 71 75 77
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