Ireland's Des Smyth celebrated St Patrick's Day 24 hours late by becoming the
oldest-ever winner on the European Tour in the Madeira Island Open.
Smyth carded a final-round 66 for an 18-under-par total of 270 at Santo da
Serra and a two-stroke victory over England's John Bickerton.
Thirty four days after celebrating his 48th birthday, Smyth thereby eclipsed
the previous oldest winner in the Tour's 30-year history, England's Neil Coles
winning the Sanyo Open in 1982 at 48 and 12 days.
It also meant he has now won a tournament in each of the last four decades,
his first coming in 1979 and the last in the Madrid Open in 1993.
Smyth pocketed the winner's cheque for £58,000 with Bickerton claiming £38,789
as runner-up, four players sharing third place four strokes behind the winner.
Wales' Stephen Dodd, Italian's Massimo Florioli and Massimo Scarpa and
defending champion Niclas Fasth all finished on 14 under with England's David
Lynn and Sweden's Pehr Magnebrant another shot behind.
"I'm absolutely ecstatic," Smyth said. "I was almost afraid to think of
winning although I knew I had a chance.
"I've won seven times previously and played Ryder Cup twice but when you
haven't won for so long it is like this elusive dream. You really want it but if
you focus on it too much you don't play well because it distracts you.
"The game plan was to go out and fire from the start but I three-putted the
first so that was a big setback. The turning point for me was the seventh hole.
I pulled my drive into the trees and had very little chance of getting out.
"There were trees all around me and I took a huge gamble going through a gap
over my head, I whacked a wedge back onto the fairway and then hit a seven-iron
to four feet and holed the putt for birdie. That's where things changed."
Another birdie followed at the 10th before what Smyth described as his "shot
of the day" - a four-iron to within inches of the hole for an eagle on the
11th.
Another good putt was required to salvage a bogey five on the 13th which left
him in a three-way tie for the lead before a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th
effectively sealed a fine victory.
"I'm over the moon," added Smyth who spoke after his opening 66 of simply
keeping his game in shape for the lucrative US Seniors Tour when he turns 50.
"It won't sink in and it will take me a week to figure this out."
Bickerton was philosophical in defeat, a final round 69 giving him his third
runners-up spot on tour after two close shaves in 1999.
"I'm happy," insisted the 31-year-old midlander who was glad to be here at
all having been forced to withdraw from the Qatar Masters last week after
contracting a stomach virus and gland infection in Dubai that left him unable to
get out of bed for several days.
"I just let a couple of holes slip. On the 11th I knocked it into the edge of
the water from the tee and took my shoes and socks off and tried to play it but
knocked it into trouble.
"That was my only bogey but it was a good one in the end. Then I missed a
couple of birdie chances coming in but I'm happy. Second...again!"
The lead changed hands numerous times on an edgy final day with three of the
top six finishers seeking their first tour victory.
One of those, the 34-year-old Welshman Dodd, had in fact never finished higher
than fifth in a tournament or better than 140th on the Order of Merit in four
attempts.
But the former 1989 British Amateur Champion, who played in the triumphant
Walker Cup team that year and with Sandy Lyle and Curtis Strange in the 1990 US
Masters, briefly led after his third birdie of the day on the seventh and only
fell out of contention with bogeys on 14 and 16.
A birdie at the last however secured him a tie for third and the consolation
of a cheque for £16,582, his biggest prize on tour.
Meanwhile Seve Ballesteros slumped to a closing 76 to temper his joy at making
his first halfway cut since September last year, his previous three rounds of
71-68-70 also being the 43-year-old Spaniard's first three consecutive sub-par
scores in almost two years.
Collated totals (GB & Ire unless stated)
270 D Smyth 66 70 68 66 (£58,181)
272 J Bickerton 67 67 69 69 (£38,789)
274 M Scarpa (Ita) 69 68 70 67, N Fasth (Swe) 69 63 72 70, S Dodd 71 67 66 70,
M Florioli (Ita) 68 68 65 73 (£16,582 each)
275 P Magnebrant (Swe) 70 70 69 66, D Lynn 68 71 64 72 (£9,600 each)
276 JM Lara (Spa) 68 68 71 69, C Hainline (USA) 69 70 65 72
278 P Mitchell 72 70 70 66, J Sandelin (Swe) 69 69 73 67, G Clark 71 68 71 68,
G Emerson 69 67 72 70
279 S Khan 68 73 69 69, S Webster 74 68 68 69, G Storm 71 71 68 69, P Fowler
(Aus) 69 68 71 71, F Valera (Spa) 73 65 70 71, A Oldcorn 67 69 69 74
280 E Carlberg (Swe) 69 72 70 69, I Garbutt 71 67 72 70, J Robinson 68 72 69
71, S Luna (Spa) 70 72 67 71, S Little 72 66 70 72, F Henge (Swe) 70 68 69 73
281 G Orr 71 72 70 68, P Golding 67 72 69 73
282 A Forsyth 69 75 69 69, S Hurd 73 69 67 73, M Mackenzie 66 73 70 73
283 D Carter 68 74 70 71, N Henning (Rsa) 73 71 69 70, M Olander (Swe) 75
68 70 70, A Beal 73 70 70 70, R Claydon 70 72 72 69, B Hafthorsson (Ice) 69 71
74 69, T Gogele (Ger) 72 72 71 68, H Stenson (Swe) 70 66 73 74, M Brier (Aut) 68
68 71 76
284 J Skold (Swe) 67 71 75 71, G Owen 69 74 71 70, P Walton 67 75 70 72, L
James 72 68 71 73, M Mouland 70 69 70 75, M Pendaries (Fra) 70 71 68 75
285 H Otto (Rsa) 68 71 74 72, SP Webster 72 71 71 71, H Kuehne (USA) 67 76 71
71, M Blackey 68 75 71 71, S Hurley 70 73 69 73, J Hawksworth 71 73 71 70, S
Ballesteros (Spa) 71 68 70 76
286 R Byrd (USA) 71 70 73 72, R Sjoberg (Swe) 68 73 73 72, D Edlund (Swe) 74
70 67 75, S Scahill (Nzl) 68 74 73 71, R Bland 70 73 73 70
287 J Romero (Spa) 74 67 72 74, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 70 71 76, W Riley (Aus) 71
72 73 71
288 S Cage 69 70 73 76, JF Lucquin (Fra) 71 71 73 73, J Berendt (Arg) 68 72 75
73, B Teilleria (Fra) 72 67 76 73
289 D Howell 70 73 72 74, M Knight 70 72 73 74, F Andersson (Swe) 72 72 72 73,
G Havret (Fra) 69 75 72 73, I Pyman 75 69 74 71
290 S Walker 74 70 75 71
291 S Richardson 72 71 75 73, A Sobrinho (Por) 72 71 75 73, D Robertson 69 72
79 71
292 K Ferrie 72 72 71 77, M Lanner (Swe) 73 71 75 73
293 U Gustafsson (Swe) 70 72 75 76, RJ Derksen (Ned) 73 71 77 72
299 P Sherman 72 71 81 75
Disq: P Gribben
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