|
|
|
| June 14, 2005 | Tuesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 6, 1426 |
Garcia triumphs by two strokes
POTOMAC (Maryland), June 13: Sergio Garcia fired a final round six-under-par 65 to win the Booz Allen Classic on Sunday and establish himself as one of the hot favourites for next week’s US Open. The Spaniard finished at 14-under 270 to claim a two-stroke victory over defending champion Adam Scott of Australia and Americans Davis Love III and Ben Crane.
The 25-year-old began the day trailing overnight leader Tom Kite by two shots but mounted an early charge at the historic Congressional Golf Club by carding five birdies and an eagle on his opening 10 holes to rocket to the top of the leaderboard.
With his first win of the season in sight, Garcia stumbled to the finish with bogeys on two of his final four holes, including the last, but held on to win the event.
Scott made a late bid for back-to-back titles but his only bogey of the day on the par four 17th left the Australian needing an ace on the par three last to force a playoff.
South African Ernie Els, who won his second US Open title at the Congressional in 1997, looked poised to return to the winner’s circle early in the day with four consecutive birdies to close out his front nine.
But the world number three fell apart after the turn mixing one birdie with four bogeys and a double-bogey on 18 to return a one-over 72 and finish in a tie for seventh at eight-under 276 with six other players.
Leading final round scores (US unless stated):
270 — Sergio Garcia (Spain) 71, 68, 66, 65.
272 — Adam Scott (Australia) 68, 67, 69, 68; Ben Crane 67, 70, 68, 67; Davis Love III 69, 68, 69, 66.
274 — Ryuji Imada (Japan) 70, 71, 66, 67.
275 — Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 69, 68, 68, 70.
276 — Rod Pampling (Australia) 70, 71, 66, 69; Stuart Appleby (Australia) 70, 69, 65, 72; Ernie Els (South Africa) 69, 67, 68, 72; Matt Gogel 63, 72, 70, 71; Joey Snyder III 69, 72, 67, 68; Joe Durant 70, 67, 70, 69.
277 — Chris DiMarco 73, 67, 70, 67; Paul Goydos 67, 69, 73, 68; Tim Clark (South Africa) 67, 70, 71, 69; Chad Campbell 72, 69, 65, 71; Robert Allenby (Australia) 68, 65, 72, 72; Steve Elkington (Australia) 68, 67, 69, 73; Luke Donald (Britain) 70, 67, 67, 73; Tom Kite 68, 69, 66, 74.
278 — Neal Lancaster 69, 70, 69, 70; Bob Estes 69, 72, 67, 70; Steve Allan (Australia) 67, 70, 70, 71; Craig Barlow 71, 68, 68, 71; Kirk Triplett 69, 69, 69, 71; Brett Quigley 72, 68, 66, 72; Alex Cejka (Germany) 69, 68, 68, 73; Lee Westwood (Britain) 66, 69, 69, 74.
ANOTHER SPANIARD WINS
HILVERSUM (Netherlands): Rookie Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano emulated his hero Severiano Ballesteros by securing his maiden victory in the Dutch Open on Sunday.
Ballesteros’s first European Tour title came in the Netherlands in 1976, and his 24-year-old compatriot shot a closing three-under-par 67 to finish two shots ahead of Britain’s Gary Emerson.
While it took Ballesteros 27 events to claim his first title in his second year on tour, Fernandez-Castano needed only 16 tournaments to taste victory.
He achieved the feat in typical Ballesteros style, holing out for an eagle-two on the third and running in several huge putts.
Leading final round scores (Britain unless stated):
269 — Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 66, 70, 66, 67.
271 — Gary Emerson 69, 63, 69, 70.
272 Paul Broadhurst 66, 67, 69, 70.
273 — Markus Brier (Austria) 67, 68, 69, 69; Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 68, 67, 70, 68.
274 — Robert Coles 71, 67, 70, 66.
275 — John Bickerton 74, 67, 69, 65; Peter Senior (Australia) 70, 67, 68, 70.
277 — Pierre Fulke (Sweden) 67, 73, 69, 68; David Lynn 70, 67, 70, 70; Damien McGrane (Ireland) 68, 70, 71, 68; Steven O’Hara 70, 65, 72, 70; Andrew Oldcorn 69, 67, 70, 71; Johan Skoeld (Sweden) 68, 70, 72, 67; Alessandro Tadini (Italy) 70, 64, 71, 72.
278 — Philip Golding 74, 67, 69, 68; Andrew Marshall 72, 69, 68, 69; Rolf Muntz (Netherlands) 69, 69, 72, 68; Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 73, 68, 67, 70; Jamie Spence 73, 69, 71, 65.—Reuters
|
|
|
|
