Fasth claims second with closing 67

Sweden's Niclas Fasth, who in 15 tournaments on the America's PGA Tour three years ago made only three halfway cuts and earned little more than £10,000, had two golden hours at Lytham when he thought he might be Open champion.

A closing 67 for a seven under par total of 277 made the 29-year-old the
clubhouse leader until David Duval kept his nerve to beat him.

The compensation, however, was that he is now right in line for a Ryder Cup
debut against Duval and the rest of the United States team at The Belfry from
September 28-30.

"I had a great time and I gave it my all," said Fasth. "I've never experienced such an atmosphere."

Fasth, whose girlfriend is expecting their first child in October, tried to combine playing in both the United States and Europe in 1998 and ended up falling off both tours.

"I was very aware it was a long way back to Europe from the States, but I was confident I could do it," he added.

He went to the Swedish golf federation to seek some invitations to their
local events, but then had the chance to play on the European Tour again at
the Madeira Island Open last year - and won it.

"I wasn't thinking about the Ryder Cup before this week. I tried to stop myself thinking about anything other than the next shot," said Fasth, who has a string of other top-10 finishes this season.

None the less, Fasth was not even sure to play the Open until last Sunday.
But once he found himself in contention, he used relaxation techniques taught
him by his home Federation as part of its youth golf programme.

"We all did it, both in the classroom and out on the course. You have to control your tension and I didn't get too nervous. Just a couple of times I could feel myself being affected, but I kept moving around and did a lot of breathing exercises - quite basic stuff."

Fasth, who started the day three shots behind, led on his own after reaching
the turn in 31 and then adding his fifth birdie of the day at the 11th. But he failed to cover the last six holes in better than one over after driving into a bunker on the 15th.

"I didn't think seven under was going to be quite enough, but of course I got myself ready just in case there was a play-off."

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