| Versailles,
France, 20th September 1998 -
Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez chipped in on the last hole to claim the Lancome
Trophy on Sunday. In
an extraordinary finish, a birdie two earned Jimenez a two-stroke victory as two
Americans came to grief on the same hole. U.S.
Tour money-list leader David Duval went into the pond on the last to double-bogey
and defending champion Mark O'Meara missed a six-foot putt to bogey. Jimenez
went to the 18th a stroke in front of the American pair, his playing partner Greg
Turner of New Zealand and Sweden's Jarmo Sandelin, who had hit a final round 63,
both already in the clubhouse. When
the Spaniard leaked his tee shot under the grandstand it looked certain to be
a play-off. But then Jimenez pitched from dropping-zone, after a free-drop, over
a bunker and into the hole. His
two-under-par 69 gave him a four-round aggregate 11-under-par 273 and his second
win of the year after victory in the Turespana Masters and the fourth of his career.
Duval, O'Meara, Sandelin and Turner all finished two shots behind. England's
Nick Faldo fired a last-round 65 and finished just one stroke behind the quartet
who shared second place. Jimenez,
vice-captain of last year's victorious European Ryder Cup team, garnered a rich
haul of Ryder Cup points to fire his 1999 bid for Brookline, Boston, and take
him to the top of Europe's table. He
began with two bogeys, then ran up an eagle and two birdies, dropped two more
shots around the turn but then charged back on top with three successive birdies.
Bogeys on the 14th and 17th, though, left him needing his final-hole conjuring
trick. "I'm
going to remember this for ever," Jimenez said. "You
know what you have to do but the pressure is really immense. At the last I was
just trying to make three because I knew that would win it for me. "The
ball got away from me but then I hit a very solid chip just the way I wanted to.
When it bounced on the green I saw the line and thought to myself 'oh my God,
it's going in!'. "This
really is the most dramatic victory of my career. "I
know that this puts me top of the Ryder Cup table and of course it is my dream.
But it is a dream I will be thinking of next year when we get to the point where
the team is chosen. "If
I have played well I will be in it but I will not be concentrating on it until
then." O'Meara,
the reigning Masters and British Open champion, shot four birdies as he jockeyed
for back-to-back Lancome victories. But the 41-year-old American lost his chance
with a bogey on the 15th. "I
got close and it was a title defence I can be proud of," said O'Meara, whose
record in Europe this year is first at Royal Birkdale (British Open), second in
Versailles and third in the European TPC in Hamburg. Sandelin
had a remarkable afternoon, bouncing back from controversy to equal the best round
of the week with a back nine of 29 shots. He was second in the event last year.
Turner stayed
close to the lead but could not force his way to the front after finding only
one back-nine birdie. Faldo,
winner of six major tournament titles, emerged from a 20-month lull with his best
finish since he won the Nissan Open on the U.S. Tour in February last year. "That
was my best round for a year," Faldo said after picking up his first Ryder
Cup points -- 28,000 of them. "At
last I hit a lot of good shots. And every good shot I hit was a shot nearer the
Ryder Cup. "The
best thing about the 65 was that I did it under pressure because I've put myself
under plenty." Colin
Montgomerie's poor opening nine left the Scot trailing all day. He finished tied
11th, six shots behind the winner. That
prevented Montgomerie from taking over from Lee Westwood at the top of Europe's
rankings even though the Englishman shared last place after a 77 for 292.
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