Bjorn contemplates a drive into water.
Bet Now on Golf with totalbet
Click here for full desktop leaderboard
Click here for more golf news
England's Kenneth Ferrie, ranked only 114th in Europe and 326th in the world,
emerged victorious tonight from one of the most amazing days in European tour
history.
Seven behind with a round to play in the Smurfit European Open at the K Club
near Dublin - venue for next September's Ryder Cup - Ferrie won the £383,330 by
two strokes from fellow north-east golfer Graeme Storm and Colin Montgomerie.
But behind that story came the incredible collapse of Dane Thomas Bjorn, four
clear of the field overnight and seemingly on course for triumph in the event he
walked out of after just six holes last year.
Bjorn had played one of the best rounds of his life to take command, a
three-under-par 69 in 30mph winds but he followed it with almost certainly his
worst - an incredible 14 over 86.
It was the highest score of the day and, hard to believe, he played the last
four holes in 10 over par to drop to 33rd. The horror run included an 11 on the
424-yard 17th, where he went into the River Liffey three times.
Standing on the tee there he was still joint leader with Ferrie and Scot
Andrew Coltart, but while he did what he did Coltart four-putted from only 12
feet for a triple bogey seven.
Up ahead on the 537-yard last, though, 26-year-old Ferrie was on the green in
two and two-putted for birdie.
As he signed for a 70 and three-under-par total of 285 news reached him of
Bjorn and Coltart crashing and the title was his.
It completed an unbelievable week for the former British boys champion. Winner
of the Spanish Open two years ago, but with nothing better than a 20th place
finish all season he had made it into the Open championship on Tuesday by holing
a 40-foot putt in a play-off - and then this.
Ferrie, who has come down from 20 to 16 stones after realising he needed to
become fitter to compete at the highest level, said he thought his chance had
gone when he double-bogeyed the 13th.
"But I birdied the next and the 18th and everybody was bleeding into the
clubhouse," said the Ashington golfer.
"I was a little bit nervous and a little bit pumped up, but I was driving it
so well and this course plays into my hands.
"Last year I was huffing and puffing down the last few holes, but now I'm
much better. I've been playing well for the last couple of months and just not
scoring.
"This was the last year of my exemption and I was putting a bit of undue
pressure on myself to keep my card." He does not have to worry about that any
more.
Storm, the British amateur champion six years ago, was celebrating as well.
Prize-money of just under £200,000 was almost seven times the size of his
previous biggest cheque.
And for his career-best finish he is now assured of keeping his tour card for
the first time, while he took the Open Championship spot available to the
leading non-exempt player in the event.
The 27-year-old from Hartlepool said: "Three years ago I nearly finished
playing.
"I was working in a cream-cake factory to try and raise some money. Clearing
trays in the freezing cold puts things into perspective."
And then, of course, there was Montgomerie, who would have equalled a European
Tour record if he had won from 10 behind after 54 holes.
The seven-time European number one was furious when he missed a birdie putt of
just under six feet on the last.
After going round in 69, Montgomerie instantly thought it would mean he would
miss out on a play-off by one, so Ferrie's closing birdie to win by two 90
minutes later did at least spare him that.
Montgomerie would soon discover that in addition to the £199,765 reward for
joint second he had also earned a shot at golf's richest prize, the £1million up
for grabs in the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in September.
Two places were up for grabs from a mini-order of merit and they went to
Montgomerie and Argentina's Angel Cabrera.
Montgomerie came off the final green in an angry mood, throwing his visor down
with a loud "damn" and then taking a journalist into the clubhouse with him to
explain why he believes the next win of his career to be "the most important
one of all".
Montgomerie then explained that last year, of course, he had a marriage break-up
and had to rebuild his life as well as his career.
Bjorn, who famously lost the 2003 Open from three ahead with four to play, did
not have to look far for someone to share his misery with.
Playing partner Raphael Jacquelin, four times a runner-up on the circuit
without winning, was three under par with four to play.
But he then went bogey, bogey, double bogey, double bogey for a 79 and 19th
place.
It all had echoes of the US Open two weeks ago when Retief Goosen and Jason
Gore, both chasing the title on the last day, shot 81 and 84.
Many people thought it would be a long time before they saw the last pair on
the final day takes 165 shots between them. But it happened again.
Bjorn later confirmed: "That was the worst day of my golfing life."
He had also been in the river with his second shot to the par-five 16th. "I
tried to keep it together and I played a perfect shot there, but it just didn't
work out.
"This was my golf tournament and I had to take it on. It was only a four-iron
and I thought it was the right thing to do. It was a tough day."
Ferrie, from the same town town as Jack and Sir Bobby Charlton, Jackie Milburn
and Steve Harmison, earns a five-year tour exemption.
"To have my name spoken in the same breath as them is a great honour. I felt
I kind of wasted my exemption last time," he said.
"Rather than rest on my laurels I could have made something special.
"I don't want to take it for granted this time and maybe next year the Ryder
Cup will be a realistic goal rather than a pipe-dream."
Before then he has the Seve Trophy match in County Durham to look forward to.
Montgomerie will be his captain then.
Collated final totals (GB & Ire unless stated):
285 Kenneth Ferrie 75 70 70 70 (£383,330)
287 Colin Montgomerie 73 75 70 69, Graeme Storm 69 71 74 73 (£199,765 each)
288 Darren Clarke 69 71 75 73, Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 72 69 73 (£106,260)
289 Brian Davis 70 73 75 71, Gary Murphy 68 76 73 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 66
76 74 73, Jamie Spence 76 67 73 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 76 70 73, Damien
McGrane 70 71 74 74, Andrew Coltart 75 68 71 75
290 Nick Dougherty 74 70 79 67, Lee Westwood 73 74 72 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa)
67 74 77 72, Graeme McDowell 72 75 70 73, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 69 74 72 75, Richard
Green (Aus) 72 73 70 75
291 Jamie Donaldson 69 70 82 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 73 74 71, Peter
Hedblom (Swe) 73 70 75 73, Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 71 75 76, Jonathan Lomas 68 72
72 79, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70 70 79
292 Soren Hansen (Den) 75 73 75 69, Anthony Wall 73 72 76 71, Steve Webster 73
73 72 74, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 74 72 71 75, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 74 72 76
293 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 76 75 71, Greg Owen 72 72 76 73, Santiago Luna
(Spa) 72 73 75 73
294 Fredrik Henge (Swe) 75 72 78 69, Peter Fowler (Aus) 74 72 76 72, Marten
Olander (Swe) 73 71 75 75, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 74 70 74 76, Phillip Archer 74 72
71 77, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 69 69 86
295 Bradley Dredge 75 72 75 73, Terry Price (Aus) 73 75 74 73, Markus Brier
(Aut) 71 70 80 74, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 72 75 76
296 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 68 79 76, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 77 69 79, Rolf
Muntz (Ned) 73 68 75 80
297 Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 75 77 75, Gary Orr 73 73 74 77, Henrik Nystrom (Swe)
75 72 73 77, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 77 70 72 78
298 Roger Chapman 69 74 78 77, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 74 71 76 77, Stephen
Dodd 74 70 76 78, Paul Eales 73 71 76 78
299 Anders Hansen (Den) 70 70 80 79, David Carter 75 67 78 79
300 Johan Skold (Swe) 76 69 78 77. Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 75 69 77 79, Sven
Struver (Ger) 71 74 75 80
301 Paul Lawrie 71 77 79 74, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 76 77 76, David Griffiths
73 75 76 77, Alastair Forsyth 76 69 77 79, Stephen Gallacher 76 71 74 80
302 David Park 75 70 80 77, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 74 72 74 82
303 Mark Foster 70 77 78 78, Oliver Wilson 73 72 78 80, Francois Delamontagne
(Fra) 67 74 81 81, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 73 76 85
306 Leif Westerberg (Swe) 75 71 78 82
308 Philip Golding 72 74 79 83
309 Tom Lehman (USA) 75 71 79 84
310 Fernando Roca (Spa) 72 74 84 80
Disqualified Costantino Rocca (Ita)
 E-mail Article  Print-Friendly
 Subscribe to RSS Feed
 Post to del.icio.us
 Facebook
Click here to send us your sporting feedback
|
