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Oldcorn holds on for biggest ever win

Andrew Oldcorn captured the Volvo PGA Championship on Monday, carding a final-round 71 to win the European Tour's flagship event by two strokes over Argentina's Angel Cabrera. The victory was the third for the Scot, who, at 41, became the oldest winner of the event since 1976.

Oldcorn, wide of the green with his second shot to the par-five 18th, played a skillful pitch to seven feet. Although he needed only to two-putt for par to seal the win, Oldcorn found the center of the cup for a closing birdie and a 72-hole total of 16-under-par 272.

"I never lost sight of the fact that someday I could win a championship like this," said an emotional Oldcorn, who returned to the winner's circle for the first time since the 1995 DHL Jersey Open. "It may sound a bit naive or corny, but this was the one championship I wanted to win on this tour for years and years and years. It's a fulfillment of all my dreams."

Oldcorn dedicated his triumph to his late manager, Allan Maxwell, who passed away last month after an illness.

Cabrera, the hottest player on the European Tour, seemed to fade Monday with two bogeys before the turn. However, an eagle at the 12th, a birdie at the 17th and another eagle at the last lifted Cabrera to 14-under-par 274.

Alone in third place was Nick Faldo, whose bogey-free 67 had the Englishman in contention for his fifth Volvo PGA title. But Faldo failed to birdie the 18th when he needed two chips to reach the putting surface.

Faldo, who finished at 13-under, paid tribute to the 2001 champion.

"It’s a great achievement on a tough golf course," said Faldo, the winner of this event in 1978, '80, '81 and '89. "It demands a lot of finesse shots and when you are nervous, playing that kind of shot isn’t easy. He did a great job to hang on."

Oldcorn, who led by a tournament-record five shots after rounds of 66-66-69, saw his advantage trimmed to two when he failed to get up and down out of a bunker at the ninth for his second bogey in three holes. He was being chased down by Faldo, who trailed Oldcorn by seven shots after three rounds.

Faldo collected his fourth birdie of the day at the 12th hole to go 12- under and get within one of the lead. Oldcorn kept Faldo at bay with a birdie of his own when he reached the 12th, but the three-time U.S. Masters champ birdied the 17th to again cut the lead to one.

Faldo couldn't take advantage of the closing par-five, while Oldcorn managed to birdie the last two holes for the third time in four days.

Oldcorn jumped from 137th to third on the Order of Merit and moved to seventh on the European Ryder Cup standings.

Faldo, looking for his first European Tour victory since the 1994 Alfred Dunhill Open, reunited with long-time caddie Fanny Sunesson this week and was glad to be back in the mix on the final day.

"I think this is a big breakthrough, really," said Faldo, who won four of his six major titles with Sunesson on his bag. "I had a good day. The crowd reaction was really fantastic and it felt like the good old days."

Faldo's last win of any kind came at the 1997 Nissan Open on the U.S. PGA Tour.

After shooting a course-record 63 to lead after one round, Cabrera wrapped up his sixth top-10 finish in eight starts with a four-under 68.

"I knew I would have to keep fighting," said Cabrera, who vaulted atop the Order of Merit for the first time in his career with his second runner-up showing of the year. "I could see that Oldcorn was very determined and Faldo was making a move and that made me fight even harder. On the tenth tee I told my caddie I needed four or five-under to have a chance. I shot four-under but it wasn’t quite enough."

Cabrera made his home country the site of his breakthrough victory with a win at the Argentina Open in April.

Sweden's Mathias Gronberg fired the day's best round of seven-under 65 for a share of fourth place at 11-under with New Zealand's Michael Campbell, who was bumped to second on the Order of Merit, and Welshman Phillip Price.

Vijay Singh, a nine-time European Tour winner who was granted a lifetime exemption to play on the tour last Tuesday, finished alone in seventh at 10-under par.

North Ireland's Darren Clarke racked up his first top-10 finish of the season, tying for eighth place with Gary Orr and Pater Baker at minus-nine.

Three-time defending Volvo PGA champion Colin Montgomerie tied for 17th, 10 shots off the pace.

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