Sweden's Pierre Fulke claimed his maiden tour title in spectacular fashion when
he denied European number one Colin Montgomerie and several European Ryder Cup
players to win the Lancome Trophy on Sunday.
Fulke's 25-foot birdie on the last earned him a single-shot victory on 14-under-par
270 despite being challenged by a four-under-par 67 from former Ryder Cup Spaniard
Ignacio Garrido which earned second place.
The Swede finished two ahead of Montgomerie, another Spaniard Santiago Luna and
England's Greg Owen.
It proved lucky seven for 28-year-old Fulke. His $200,000 debut win has come
in his seventh year on tour and it was the first time he had even made the weekend
in this event in seven attempts.
"It's
all pretty unbelievable," said Fulke. "I've beaten the European number one, playing
alongside him in the final group and that's great.
"But
the really remarkable thing is that I've been coming here for seven years and
this is the first time I've made the cut.
"I
don't really know where this has come from except that I saw my coach after playing
badly in Switzerland two weeks ago, we hit just 30 balls and got some new ideas."
Montgomerie,
who took over the lead early on after long-time leader Miguel Jimenez of Spain
fell away, was crestfallen at missing out on his attempt for a sixth win of the
year. But he had at least the consolation of extending his lead on Europe's order
of merit to more than $800,000 over fellow Briton Lee Westwood.
"From the first hole I hit
the ball fantastic, probably the best I've ever played in a round. I hit every
green but I had 35 putts. Single putted the first green, that's all," Montgomerie
said.
"It wasn't
as if I was leaving myself 30-footers. My putts were all inside 5-10 feet. It's
sad. I should have had this tournament sewn up after the fifth hole."
Jimenez's closing 74 left him six shots behind Fulke and Jarmo Sandelin was the
next-best Ryder Cup player on the finishing board as the Swede ended tied in sixth
place four behind.
Of the rest of the Ryder Cup men warming up for the clash with America, British
Open champion Paul Lawrie, who said he was confident he would be playing alongside
Montgomerie next week at Brookline, finished on 278. Jean Van de Velde of France
was two further back.
U.S. Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal double-bogeyed the last to finish off
an erratic week to be 12 behind Fulke but remained upbeat about his Ryder Cup
prospects.
"I
was playing awful before Augusta, even the week before in Atlanta and I turned
it around then, so I can do it again," said the Spaniard.
