18 October 2004	Monday	03 Ramazan 1425

PULA MALLORCA, Oct 17: Sergio Garcia lived up to his billing as favourite by clinching the Mallorca Classic title by four strokes on Sunday for his first European Tour victory of the season.

Garcia had to come from three shots behind Britain's Simon Khan after the first two holes of the final round, accelerating to a closing three-under-par 67 and a 12-under-par total of 268 as he claimed his fifth European title.

The 24-year-old Spaniard, who spurned a chance to play in the World Matchplay Championship to play on Mallorca, completed his third victory of the year either side of the Atlantic, adding to the Byron Nelson Championship and Buick Classic titles on the US Tour.

However, he had to dig deep after beginning his round with two bogeys.

Khan, who had shared the lead overnight with Garcia, birdied the first to break three clear, but then also threw in two bogeys to let back in an opponent who, at number 11, was 57 places ahead of him in the world rankings.

Six birdies in 11 holes then turned the tables as Garcia established an unassailable lead on Khan, the Wales Open winner in June, who had to settle for second place with a 71.

Leading final round scores (Britain unless stated):

268 - Sergio Garcia (Spain) 66, 67, 68, 67.

272 - Simon Khan 66, 64, 71, 71.

273 - Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 66, 67, 71, 69.

275 - Francois Delamontagne (France) 65, 71, 71, 68; Santiago Luna (Spain) 67, 69, 69, 70; Markus Brier (Austria) 68, 68, 67, 72.

276 - Paul Broadhurst 68, 72, 69, 67; Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 72, 64, 69, 71; Alastair Forsyth 67, 68, 73, 68.

277 - Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 73, 68, 70, 66.

278 - Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 67, 69, 75, 67; David Park 75, 65, 70, 68; Peter Fowler (Australia) 66, 70, 73, 69; Paul Lawrie 68, 70, 70, 70; Stephen Gallacher 70, 67, 71, 70.

279 - Emanuele Canonica (Italy) 67, 67, 76, 69; Brad Kennedy (Australia) 70, 67, 72, 70; Richard Sterne (South Africa) 69, 69, 71, 70.

280 - Robert Coles 71, 69, 71, 69; Paul Eales 74, 66, 70, 70; Michael Jonzon (Sweden) 70, 71, 69, 70; Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 71, 67, 72, 70; Martin Maritz (South Africa) 73, 68, 70, 69; Jose Rivero (Spain) 70, 69, 73, 68; Anthony Wall 69, 70, 74, 67; Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 65, 71, 72, 72.

LEAD SHARED

GREENSBORO (North Carolina): British Open winner Tom Lehman and Brent Geiberger shared the lead after the third round of the Greensboro Classic on Saturday.

Lehman continued his fine form of last week in Las Vegas where he finished second by shooting a solid three-under-par 69 on a windy Forest Oaks course.

He finished at 12-under tied with Geiberger, who started out in front for the first time since 2001 but made his first bogey of the tournament on the fifth and fell lost the lead.

Geiberger, who made the turn at one-over 37, quickly made up for his mistake with three birdies on the back nine before a bogey on the par three 17th dropped him to one-under-par 71.

Tied for third are Matt Gogel, who had the day's best round with a six-under 66, Michael Allen, Joe Ogilvie, who bogeyed the last to lose the lead, and David Toms at 11-under.

Chris Smith moved to 10-under-par with a five-under 67 and is tied for seventh with defending champion Shigeki Maruyama of Japan.

Leading third round scores (US unless stated):

204 - Tom Lehman 69, 66, 69; Brent Geiberger 69, 67, 71.

205 - Matt Gogel 70, 69, 66; Joe Ogilvie 68, 67, 70; David Toms 69, 65, 71.

206 - Chris Smith 70, 69, 67; Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 68, 70, 68.

207 - Richard S. Johnson (Sweden) 67, 71, 69; Ben Crane, 68, 69, 70; Blaine McCallister 67, 70, 70; David Frost (South Africa) 70, 66, 71; Jerry Kelly 70, 65, 72; Tom Pernice Jr 66, 68, 73; Jeff Brehaut 68, 66, 73.

208 - Jason Dufner 65, 70, 73; Brent Geiberger 66, 67, 71.

209 - Arjun Atwal (India) 71, 70, 68; Fred Funk 69, 71, 69; Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 72, 68, 69; Carlos Franco (Paraquay) 70, 70, 69; Cameron Beckman 71, 67, 71; Brad Faxon 68, 70, 71; Mark Calcavecchia 69, 69, 71; Brett Quigley 66, 71, 72; Bo Van Pelt 66, 69, 74; Hank Kuehne 67, 69, 73.

ELS WINS TITLE

VIRGINIA WATER (England) Oct 17: Ernie Els beat Lee Westwood 2&1 in a gripping final at Wentworth on Sunday to win a record sixth World Match Play Championship and claim the biggest first prize in golf.

The South African world number two celebrated his 35th birthday by pocketing a cheque for 1.0 million pounds ($1.8 million) after clinching his third successive victory in the tournament.

The two players were locked together at the halfway point of the final but Els moved two ahead with an eagle at the 22nd hole and played solid golf to keep Westwood, ranked 37 places below him, at bay.

The British Ryder Cup player, who had inflicted two of Els's four defeats at the World Match Play event, did pull a hole back with a delightful iron shot to birdie the 33rd but Els immediately restored his two-hole cushion.

Westwood, former European number one and Match Play Champion in 2000, made a courageous birdie on the 35th hole but Els sank a snaking 20-foot putt to match his opponent and claim the 52nd title of his professional career.

The South African also clinched his second successive European order of merit crown. -Reuters