Price poses with his trophy. (Getty Images)
By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Corespondent
Click here for final leaderboard
Click here for video highlights
Click here for all the latest golf scores
Phillip Price has guaranteed that he will not just be remembered as the man
who beat world number two Phil Mickelson at the Ryder Cup.
The importance of the 36-year-old Welshman's win in the Smurfit European Open
at the K Club near Dublin on Sunday night was shown by his reaction to it.
As he did against Mickelson, Price punched the air repeatedly after holing the
putt - two feet rather than 25 this time - which gave him his winning birdie and
a cheque for £333,330.
"I was nothing like as nervous as I was at the Ryder Cup, but that week
didn't really give me that much confidence," he said.
"This is where it's at. A four-round tournament is where you've got to learn
your skills and winning a title as big as this gets the monkey off my back as
regards the status of golfer people think I am.
"This is a major tournament in Europe and for self-satisfaction it was great
to prove I could get a job done when everybody is here and not just when a few
of the better players are missing."
Price's two previous victories were Portuguese Opens and the joy of winning
something so much more prestigious was all the greater because of the manner of
it and the fact that he had not had a top-five finish since his Belfry heroics.
Down to 157th in the world and down in the dumps as well, Price was sick of
throwing away good chances, and when he stood three up with five to play he
looked set to enjoy a stroll to the trophy.
But then came bogeys on the 14th and 17th - he missed from two feet there -
and up ahead Scot Alastair Forsyth and then Zimbabwean Mark McNulty birdied the
par-five 18th to catch him at 15 under par.
At 49, McNulty was trying to become the oldest winner in tour history and the
chance was still there when Price's second to the 537-yard hole went racing off
the back of the green.
But the Pontypridd golfer, knowing it would be a crushing blow not to win,
chipped brilliantly and this time made it.
"It would have been nice to be glamorous and win by six, but it's difficult
being out in front," he added. "Negativity creeps in and you get quite
tentative.
"But I hung in there and just managed to keep my head down. To win this is an
incredible achievement for me."
McNulty did not mind just missing out on a piece of history. "I'm absolutely
delighted," he said. "I think that's the best I've played for five years. I
dropped only three shots all week."
Forsyth was runner-up for the second time in three weeks and is £300,000
richer for it.
"I left myself a lot to do, but I battled back and I can't complain. I played
great," he said following a 68 that equalled the best of a difficult day.
He is up to eighth on the Order of Merit, while Price leaps to sixth, and the
added bonus for Forsyth is that he is certain now to qualify for next week's
Open championship off a mini-money list that has been running since the end of
May.
With one more tournament left in that race for seven exempt spots, Ian Poulter
leads from Forsyth, Philip Golding, Soren Kjeldsen, Greg Owen, McNulty and David
Howell.
Barry Lane is the one best placed to knock one of those out, although eight
further places are on offer at the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond starting on
Thursday.
Early in the final round on Sunday it looked like Darren Clarke would be the
one to pressure Price most.
Clarke birdied the second and eagled the third to catch his Belfry teammate,
but then came three successive bogeys and in the end he had to eagle the last
just for a share of fifth spot.
While the Ulsterman was disappointed, another Ryder Cup man most definitely
was not.
Former European number one Lee Westwood finished joint ninth and that was his
first top-10 finish for almost two years.
Collated final totals in the Smurfit European Open at the K Club, County Kildare, Ireland (Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):
272 Phillip Price 66 69 67 70 (£333,330)
273 Alastair Forsyth 66 70 69 68, Mark McNulty (Zim) 68 69 68 68 (£173,710
each)
275 Gary Evans 68 70 69 68 (£100,000)
276 Eduardo Romero (Arg) 69 68 71 68, Darren Clarke 67 68 70 71 (£77,400
each)
278 Andrew Coltart 67 70 70 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 66 67 73 (£47,400
each)
279 Lee Westwood 70 71 69 69, Barry Lane 70 70 69 70, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70
69 66 74
280 Colin Montgomerie 68 71 73 68
281 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 73 70 70 68, Paul Casey 73 71 68 69, Raymond Russell
71 73 67 70
282 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 71 72 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70 71 69, Mark
Roe 71 70 71 70
283 Roger Chapman 70 73 72 68, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 69 71 73 70, David Lynn 71
71 70 71, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 70 72 70 71
284 Brian Davis 76 66 74 68, Matthew Blackey 73 69 71 71, Bernhard Langer
(Ger) 73 67 71 73, Mark James 72 69 68 75
285 John Bickerton 71 73 71 70, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 73 69 71 72, Gary Murphy 67
75 71 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 64 76 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 67 75 69 74,
Shaun Webster 70 76 65 74, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 66 74 68 77
286 Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 73 65 77 71, Nick Faldo 75 70 69 72, David Carter
73 73 67 73
287 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 72 73 68, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 75 73 69,
Anders Hansen (Den) 73 73 71 70, Bradley Dredge 75 70 71 71, Paul McGinley 72 73
70 72, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 69 71 74 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 71 69 73,
Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 67 74 69 77, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 69 72 67 79
288 Jamie Donaldson 71 70 77 70, Andrew Raitt 69 73 74 72, Richard Sterne
(Rsa) 74 70 71 73, Richard Green (Aus) 73 73 68 74
289 Julien Clement (Swi) 73 72 74 70, Anthony Wall 74 72 73 70, Miles
Tunnicliff 74 68 76 71, Steve Webster 73 71 73 72, Sandy Lyle 72 73 70 74,
Stephen Gallacher 71 74 70 74
290 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 74 71 73 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 75 71 72 72, Nicolas
Vanhootegem (Bel) 74 71 72 73, David Gilford 73 73 69 75, Nicolas Colsaerts
(Bel) 75 69 70 76
291 Mark Pilkington 72 72 77 70, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 76 70 74 71, David Howell
71 74 74 72, Padraig Harrington 73 73 73 72, Ben Mason 72 72 74 73, Damien
McGrane 72 72 73 73, Greg Owen 70 74 72 75, Marten Olander (Swe) 71 71 73 76,
Graeme McDowell 69 73 73 76, David Drysdale 74 72 69 76
292 Ian Woosnam 74 70 75 73, Andrew Oldcorn 73 72 73 74, Michael Campbell
(Nzl) 70 75 70 77, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 73 68 78
293 Stephen Dodd 70 73 75 75
295 Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 71 75 78 71
296 Andrew Marshall 75 71 71 79
297 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 72 73 77 75
299 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 73 75 79
 E-mail Article  Print-Friendly
 Subscribe to RSS Feed
 Post to del.icio.us
 Facebook
Click here to send us your sporting feedback
|
