| Jerez,
Spain, 1st November 1998 -
Scotland's Colin Montgmerie won the European Order of Merit for the sixth year
running on Sunday as Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke stormed to victory in the
Volvo Masters. Montgomerie's
third place in the tournament was enough to guarantee his continued supremacy
in European golf, which became all but certain when closest rival Lee Westwood
of England took seven shots at the par-three 14th hole. "The
field is improving all the time and I have had to improve along with them,"
Montgomerie, 35, said after a mature, safety-first 68 which did not threaten Clarke's
aggressive performance. Clarke
equalled Swede Per-Ulrik Johansson's course record of 63, firing seven birdies
and an eagle on the sun-drenched Montecastillo course in the heart of Spain's
sherry-producing country. He finished on 271, 17 under par. Scot
Andrew Coltart was a surprise second-place finisher with a six-under-par 66 to
finish 15 under. The 28-year-old kept hard on Clarke's heels until he bogeyed
on the 17th. For
Montgomerie, the victory was sweet after he suffered a disastrous loss of form
in the middle of 1998. Still
without victory in one of the major tournaments, "Monty" lost his swing
after his second victory of the year at the end of May and spent several weeks
in the wilderness, but fought back again to win the British and German Masters
in September. "Although
I went through a hiccup in the middle of the year, I'm feeling mentally stronger
than ever," he said, admitting he had been playing safely on Sunday rather
than going for a tournament victory. "When
you've been number one, you don't like being number two and that still drives
me," he said. He
went into the Volvo Masters just £45,000 ($75,540) ahead of Westwood but earned
£233,000 ($391,100) in prize and bonus money on Sunday to push his total for the
year to just over £993,077 ($1.67 million). Clarke
paid tribute to Montgomery. "Both Lee and I tried our hardest to beat Monty
this year and we couldn't do it. Our best just has not been good enough,"
he said. For
the jovial 30-year-old Clarke, who carried his 13-week-old daughter Tyrone off
the course in triumph, 1998 has been a rollercoaster year. He
won only won tournament before Sunday when he could have won several others and
was deeply affected by the car bomb in the Northern Irish town of Omagh in August
which killed 27 people. On
Sunday he dedicated his victory to friend Stephen Bowler, who died of a heart
attack in South Africa last week. Clarke
earned £166,000 ($278,600) for winning the event and £120,000 ($201,400)
for nudging Westwood out of second place in the European rankings, a total of
£286,000 ($480,100) earned on Sunday for year's earnings of around £900,000
($1.51 million). Westwood
said he had already lost the battle with Montgomerie by the time disaster struck
on the 14th hole. "I struggled all day. It was the start of the round that
let me down. I never really felt I had a chance," he said. Former
English Ryder Cup star Peter Baker and Australian overnight leader Peter O'Malley
shared fourth place on 13 under with German two-times Masters winner Bernhard
Langer sixth, 12 under par after a round of 68. Baker carded 67 and O'Malley 70.
World number
five Ernie Els finished with a round of 70 for an overall nine under score of
279. | 
