Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez became the third first-time winner on the
European tour in the space of four weeks.
Following German Tobias Dier's win in Ireland and English rookie Paul Casey's
victory in Scotland, the 31-year-old captured the Omega European Masters in
Switzerland by three strokes.
Gonzalez, biggest hitter on the circuit this season with an average drive of
303 yards, unleashed some more massive blows as he compiled a closing 68 for a
16-under-par total of 268.
Outright leader after every round, the former caddie pushed Dane Soren Hansen
into second place and so kept the title in Argentine hands 12 months after
Eduardo Romero's 10-shot triumph.
Victory was worth £156,616 to a man who made six trips to the tour qualifying
school before graduating from the "second division" Challenge Tour.
American Craig Stadler's attempt to become the oldest winner in European tour
history was alive and kicking after he had birdied the first two holes and
climbed into joint second place.
But the 48-year-old, winner of the 1982 US Masters, had to settle for joint
third place with Scot Gary Orr.
Lee Westwood's hopes of ending his victory drought this year disappeared when
he triple-bogeyed the par-four fourth for the second time in the week, but just
to play 72 holes with no recurrence of the wrist injury which forced him out of
his last event was good news for the Ryder Cup.
"I'd give my wrist 10 out of 10, but my golf about four," he said after
finishing alongside world number four Ernie Els in 16th place on four under.
With only two of Europe's top 15 this season in the field - that became one
when Thomas Bjorn withdrew with a shoulder injury that thankfully ought not to
prevent him appearing at The Belfry either - there was always the chance for one
of the lesser lights to shine more brightly.
Sure enough, the leaderboard with a round to go was headed by four players
without a single tour title between them, Gonzalez leading by two from Scahill
and by three from Hansen and Mansfield's Greg Owen.
By the turn the gap was four and once he had saved par with a superb chip at
the short 11th and then birdied the next Hansen was the only player left with a
chance of catching him.
But the Dane's failure to birdie either of the par fives in the closing
stretch effectively settled the issue.
Meanwhile, rising English stars Warren Bennett, Casey and Justin Rose all
failed in their bids to join him and Ian Poulter at this week's five million
dollars American Express world championship in the United States.
The trio arrived in Switzerland 24th, 25th and 26th on the Order of Merit and
had to climb into the leading 20 to qualify.
But that meant a top-five target for Casey and Rose and top 20 for Bennett and
all came up well short.
Compensation for Bennett was that he kept the other two behind him on the
money list and so will partner Ian Poulter in the three million dollars World
Cup in Japan in November.
Westwood has declared himself unavailable for that trip, as have Colin
Montgomerie and Darren Clarke.
Ireland, therefore, can again field 1997 winners and Ryder Cup pair Padraig
Harrington and Paul McGinley, while Scotland have Andrew Coltart and Andrew
Oldcorn.
Wales will be represented once more by Phillip Price and Ian Woosnam.
A good week from Nick Faldo might have taken him past Poulter on the world
rankings and back into the England side three years after he won with David
Carter.
But he finished only on level par. Faldo had given caddie Fanny Sunesson her
marching orders on Saturday - but only for 24 hours.
He told Sunesson to go take a walk in the Swiss Alps after deciding he wanted
his Swedish sports psychologist Kjell Enhager to have a close-up view of him in
action.
"It was my idea, but Fanny still came down and said she wanted to work. I had
to tell her to find something else to do," joked Faldo.
"I wanted Kjell to see how my mind works during a tournament."
Sunesson was back today to resume a partnership that began again in May after
18 months apart.
Sunesson left to work with Sergio Garcia, but they lasted only a few
tournaments.
Scores:
268 R Gonzalez (Arg) 65 67 68 68 (£156,616)
271 S Hansen (Den) 70 65 68 68 (£104,406)
273 C Stadler (USA) 69 69 67 68, G Orr 67 66 71 69 (£52,904 each)
274 F Jacobson (Swe) 68 71 65 70 (£39,843)
276 G Owen 68 67 68 73, S Scahill (Nzl) 67 67 68 74
277 P Fowler (Aus) 69 71 69 68, G Brand Jnr 66 71 71 69
278 R Jacquelin (Fra) 68 70 72 68, E Romero (Arg) 72 67 71 68, D Gilford 67 66
72 73
279 J Donaldson 71 72 66 70, F Valera (Spa) 69 72 67 71, M Brier (Aut) 69 67
70 73
280 J Robinson 70 72 70 68, E Els (Rsa) 71 72 68 69, S Leaney (Aus) 67 71 72
70, S O'Hara 74 64 71 71, G Turner (Nzl) 67 71 71 71, L Westwood 70 69 69 72, P
O'Malley (Aus) 68 71 67 74
281 M Mouland 69 72 72 68, J Haeggman (Swe) 71 68 73 69, JM Carriles (Spa) 73
68 70 70, D Robertson 66 70 74 71, A Scott (Aus) 69 69 72 71, B Davis 68 71 71
71, D Park 69 71 70 71, B Lane 72 69 69 71, D Carter 73 67 69 72, F Andersson
(Swe) 70 69 69 73, P Eales 68 69 70 74
282 J Rose 69 69 72 72, C Hanell (Swe) 69 71 70 72, M Gronberg (Swe) 70 72 68
72
283 S Torrance 72 71 71 69, E Boult (Nzl) 70 72 71 70, T Gogele (Ger) 66 75 71
71, D Higgins 71 70 71 71, J Rystrom (Swe) 69 74 69 71, D Lynn 68 70 73 72, A
Cejka (Ger) 70 72 69 72, G Murphy 69 69 72 73, P Casey 76 67 65 75284 MA Jimenez
(Spa) 73 68 73 70, V Phillips 69 69 74 72, N Faldo 70 72 70 72, E Canonica (Ita)
70 72 70 72, T Immelman (Rsa) 70 69 72 73, M Farry (Fra) 70 70 71 73, O Karlsson
(Swe) 71 69 70 74
285 S Gallacher 71 69 74 71, M James 71 70 71 73, W Bennett 68 69 74 74, S
Luna (Spn) 71 70 69 75, Shaun Webster 69 71 69 76
286 R Claydon 72 71 72 71, H Nystrom (Swe) 66 73 75 72, J Hugo (Rsa) 72 68 74
72, C Cevaer (Fra) 71 71 72 72, S Lyle 72 70 71 73, G Storm 71 72 68 75
287 R Winchester 71 71 76 69, D Howell 71 72 73 71, I Garbutt 72 69 73 73, R
Chapman 72 70 71 74, A Hansen (Den) 73 69 70 75
288 C Rodiles (Spa) 71 72 70 75
289 W Riley (Aus) 74 67 73 75, G Emerson 71 72 71 75
290 I Garrido (Spa) 67 72 75 76
291 M Lafeber (Ned) 72 71 77 71, P Mitchell 71 71 71 78, N Henning (Rsa) 72 66
74 79
293 S Ballesteros (Spa) 72 71 76 74
295 P Walton 68 73 74 80
298 M Scarpa (Ita) 70 73 78 77
299 K Felton (Aus) 70 73 77 79
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook