Scott Drummond named rookie of the year

Britain's Scott Drummond, who produced one of the biggest shocks in European Tour history with victory at the prestigious Volvo PGA Championship in May, has been named the tour's rookie of the year.

The 30-year-old, selected by a panel comprising the European Tour, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and the Association of Golf Writers, finished 23rd in the 2004 European order of merit with earnings of 908,017 euros ($1.16 million).

A rank outsider who had been fourth reserve for the tour's flagship event at Wentworth, the Scot clinched his maiden European Tour title by two shots from Argentina's Angel Cabrera with a closing eight-under-par 64.

Drummond, whose breakthrough triumph ranked alongside American Ben Curtis's unexpected success at last year's British Open, reeled off birdies at the last two holes to equal the tournament record at 19-under 269.

"It's a dream come true," he said after outplaying the likes Vijay Singh and Ernie Els for the Wentworth title.

Other former winners of the rookie of the year award include Englishman Tony Jacklin (1963), Scots Sandy Lyle (1978) and Colin Montgomerie (1988), Denmark's Thomas Bjorn (1996) and Spaniard Sergio Garcia (1999).

"It is a wonderful honour to follow such famous names," Drummond said in a statement.

"At the start of the season my goal was to retain my card and, if possible, challenge for this award as you only ever have one chance of winning it. This is unbelievable."

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