France’s Christian Cevaer, ranked a lowly world No. 449, shocked a strong field to win the European Open in London on Sunday.
After four rounds of golf that saw 45 changes of the lead, the 39-year-old Frenchman, who has failed to make the top-30 in his last 15 starts and whose only previous Tour victory was the 2004 Spanish Open, beat England’s Steve Webster, Scot Gary Orr and Spaniard Alvaro Quiros by a shot.
His winning total of 281, seven under par, was 13 strokes more than Ross Fisher took on the same London Club course last year — and his 74 was the highest last round by a winner all season.
PHOTO: AFP
But while Webster and Quiros both became victims of the 471-yard last when tied for the lead — both carved their drives into the crowd, with Quiros hitting spectators with his first and second shots — Cevaer kept his nerve.
During the week the par-four played to an average of nearly 4.7, with 154 bogeys, 48 doubles and 26 sevens or worse, but Cevaer parred it the first two days, birdied it in the third round and finished with the par he needed.
“I’m not a long player, but I used my utility club and it worked out great,” he said. “I made a point that no matter what happened just enjoy my golf, enjoy my skills and hang in there.”
He played the front nine in 39 and did not have a birdie until the long 15th, but the problems meant that it brought him back into a share of top spot.
And then three closing pars were good enough to give him the £300,000 (US$492,000) first prize — easily the biggest of his 16-year professional career.
At 196th on the “Race to Dubai” money list entering the week he would have been delighted just to secure his card for next season, but now he has a five-year Tour exemption.
■COLONIAL INVITATIONAL
REUTERS, FORT WORTH, TEXAS
Steve Stricker has learned how to accept the ups and downs of professional golf with a positive approach, a lesson that helped the American win the Colonial Invitational in a three-way playoff on Sunday.
A missed birdie putt from seven feet at the 15th and a four-footer for par that slipped by at the 16th left him two strokes off the pace, but the 42-year-old was able to hold on to seal victory at the second extra hole.
“You got to keep moving on and I think that’s what I’ve done very well the last four years or so,” Stricker told reporters after edging out compatriot Steve Marino and South African Tim Clark for his fifth PGA Tour title.
“I’ve been maintaining a positive attitude. Every time I get in contention I take it as a positive. I really had a couple of good chances to win earlier this year, and I didn’t,” he said. “At first they stung not winning, but when I look back over the week, I realize I did a lot of good things to get myself in that position.”
Stricker, who had posted five top-seven finishes on the PGA Tour without previously winning this season, was particularly upset by his missed four-footer at the par-three 16th.
“I had hit a decent shot in there ... and then to miss ... it really felt like it was slipping away,” the former world No. 3 said. “But I just kind of let it roll off my back.”
Seeking his first PGA Tour title since the 2007 Barclays Classic, Stricker reignited his victory bid by chipping in from behind the green to birdie the par-four 17th in regulation.
After parring the last to join Marino and Clark in a playoff, he sealed victory with a spectacular birdie at the second extra hole, hitting his eight-iron approach to four feet and calmly knocking in the putt.
“I took dead aim, I tried to hit it in there, and I pulled it off. In a playoff situation, you almost have to do that,” he said. “All in all, it was a great week. It started off Thursday and Friday with some rounds that I don’t typically put up, back-to-back 63s. I played good all week.”
“I could feel it kind of losing some momentum the last couple of days but I hung in there and the chip-in at 17 really, looking back, was the deal where I was able to win,” he said.
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