DAY 4 - 30th October
Every year’s it’s the same. The
Volvo Masters seems to be heading for a clear conclusion – with
an obvious winner or patently main contenders – then, thwap!
The obvious winner stumbles down the leaderboard. The patently main
contenders start playing like Laurel & Hardy. And through the
field – almost unobtrusively and certainly unexpectedly – comes
the new champion.
No one – perhaps even Paul McGinley if he’s being
really honest with himself – expected him to win the 2005
Volvo Masters. He was four-over-par after 23 holes of the tournament,
including double and triple-bogeys in the first seven holes. Yes,
he had come back to six-under and four behind the co-leaders after
54 holes. But the pair ahead of him were Sergio García and
Colin Montgomerie, and surely both wouldn’t slip up.
They did: Montgomerie big-time with a three-over 74; García
marginally less so with a 73. Meanwhile, McGinley, who barely six
months ago wasn’t high enough in the world rankings to qualify
for the US Masters, closed with a 67 to finish on 10-under for
the tournament (the same score on which García and Montgomerie
began the day) and end the year third on the European Order of
Merit – his only previous top-10 finish was eighth in 2001.
The
popular Irishman’s finish – after the early hiccups – was
sensational: after a bogey on the first hole of the second day,
he carded 14 birdies in an unblemished run to the end. While Spanish
fans were disappointed not to celebrate a first “home” win
in the Volvo Masters at Valderrama (Miguel Angel Jimenez won in
1999 at Montecastillo) McGinley’s triumph was well-received
by “neutral” fans and the vast number of people who
admire what Montgomerie’s achieved over the years but find
his on-course temperament a turn-off. Having said that, he was
back to his magnanimous off-course persona following the tournament,
saying how pleased he was for Paul McGinley and Irish golf in general,
and claiming his eighth Order of Merit had been tougher than the
seven he won consecutively from 1993 to 1999. In those days, he
said, he had been fortunate that such players as Nick Faldo, Severiano
Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam had perhaps not been at the peak of
their form, whereas standards had now improved with the new generation
of players. “It means a lot to come back and do this. I didn’t
need this but I wanted it.”
It meant just as much to Paul McGinley. He admitted to being devastated
after losing the 2005 World Matchplay final against Michael Campbell,
but said that loss, and his second place in the PGA Championship
and third in the NEC Invitational World Golf Championship this
year, had convinced him a big one was within his grasp. “There’s a skill, an art to do it (here at Valderrama).
It’s just taken me longer than most to do it.”
If Montgomerie failed spectacularly to win his second and a half
Volvo Masters, he did have the consolation of finishing European
number one. From the moment he gained five shots on his only rival
in the field for the title, Michael Campbell, playing together
in the first round, the New Zealander was always going to struggle
to secure the result (probably first or second) he needed. In the
end he was way out of it, finishing 14th, four behind Montgomerie.
DAY 3 - 29th October
Colin Montgomerie was preparing to hit his third to the 17th. “Well,” said
one onlooker to his companion, both supporting Sergio García (at that
stage three behind), “I guess all we can hope for is that he goes into
the water and double-bogeys it.”
Incredibly, he did (later – during a curt press conference – he
admitted he had hit it “a bit heavy”). García missed a two-metre
putt for birdie that would have put them level but remedied the slip-up on
the 18th with a magnificent second shot to less than a metre and his third
birdie in four holes.
So, from being six behind on the 15th tee – and
with just about everyone assuming Montgomerie was marching inexorably towards
his second and a half Volvo Masters (he shared the 2002 championship with Bernhard
Langer in fading light) and eighth Order of Merit top spot – García
was back in the race.
And not only the Spaniard. Irishman Paul McGinley, who
had carded a double and triple bogey in the opening seven holes on the first
day, recorded a best-of-the-day (and tournament) 65 to finish on six-under,
just four strokes behind the co-leaders and level with Paul Broadhurst and
Lee Westwood (both 67s) and Ian Poulter, who began the day level with García
two behind Montgomerie but slipped to a 72.
José María Olazabal
also came back from a disappointing second round with a 68 to finish on five-under,
while Michael Campbell gave himself an outside (very outside) chance of overtaking
Montgomerie at the head of the Order of Merit with a 68 that left him on four-under.
His only option is to finish first or second, with the Scot behind him. Not
a particularly likely scenario but after Montgomerie’s mishap on the
17th yesterday few people will be discounting anything as the 2005 season grand
finale comes to an intriguing conclusion that didn’t seem at all possible
halfway through the third round.
DAY 2 - 28th October
If you were relying on someone to sink a one-metre putt to save your
life, Colin Montgomerie would be just the man to have beside you,
putter in hand. Yesterday on the 18th, as the Scot stood over a putt
for par from just under that distance, no one doubted that he would
be heading into the clubhouse with a three-shot lead at the halfway
stage of the 2005 Volvo Masters. Incredibly, he missed what for him
is normally a simple tap-in, and headed to the scorer’s hut
with the sort of dark look that suggested the door was just about
to be slammed off its delicate hinges. Fortunately, a TV camera was
following him to the hut, he restrained himself – and the door
survived to live another day, and bogey.
Montgomerie’s misfortune was met with a loud cheer in the media
tent, as Sergio García was giving a press conference nearby.
Not by Sergio, we must stress; at that stage he wasn’t aware
of what had happened. But later he must have been relieved that his
bogey on the same hole – he also bogeyed the 18th in the first
round – was not as costly as it might have been. He ended the
day on seven-under-par (68-67), just two shots behind Montgomerie
(67-66) and level with joint first-round leader Ian Poulter (67-68).
Hiccup aside, Montgomerie is still well-placed to not only win the
tournament but also seal the European Order of Merit, as Michael
Campbell (the only other player in the field able to overtake him)
followed an opening 72 with a 69 to remain eight shots adrift. Not
insurmountable, but unlikely.
José María Olazabal is marginally better placed at
the halfway stage of the season finale, two-under overall after rounds
of 68-72. It could have been much worse: he was almost disappearing
from trace when he struck a magnificent second shot to the par-five
17th and tapped in an easy eagle putt from less than a metre.
Lee Westwood and Niclas Fasth are also on two-under 140, currently
overshadowed by Bradley Dredge (138) and Henrik Stenson and Nick
O´Hern (139).
The other local Spanish hero, Miguel Angel Jiménez, closed
with two birdies to salvage a round of 72 and finish on three-over-par
overall, before heading to Marbella where a special ceremony was
planned to award him a commemorative plaque on the Boulevard of Fame
in Puerto Banús.
In the battle for Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Years honours, Spain’s
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño is on 144, Peter Gustafsson
152 and Richard Finch 153. The award is not only contingent on final
Order of Merit placings (Fernández-Castaño is the only
one of the three to have won a tournament but began the tournament
12 places behind the Swede) but a higher finish at Valderrama will
boost his chances of receiving the prestigious award, also won by
José María Olazabal in 1986.
DAY 1 - 27th October
It’s not always the case, of course, but the first day’s
leaderboard was close to what most people expected. Sure, there were
a couple of gate-crashers at the Volvo Masters party (Steve Webster,
Gregory Havret et al) but few expect them to be still toasting success
on Sunday. If that sounds slightly cruel, history shows that Valderrama
invariably produces a champion from the top echelons of the game:
an internationally recognised champion or at least a proven winner
in Europe.
And sitting atop the leaderboard, on four-under 67, after the first
round was Colin Montgomerie – current leader of the Order of
Merit, which he won seven consecutive times from 1993 to 1999 – and
defending champion Ian Poulter, who is attempting to stretch his
record of at least one win a season since joining the Tour in 2000 – for
a second year in a row, at the final hurdle.
Then, one stroke back came dual US Masters champion José María
Olazabal, Sergio García (a multiple winner on the US and European
Tours) and Luke Donald (also victorious both sides of the Atlantic).
The only two who could be said to have let the (elite) side down
were Miguel Angel Jiménez, to date the only Spaniard to have
won the Volvo Masters (when it was played at Montecastillo in 1999)
and reigning US Open Champion Michael Campbell. Jimenez, still the
only player to have carded an albatross on the 17th in top competition
at Valderrama (1994 Volvo Masters) shot a double-bogey seven this
time for a 73, one worse than Campbell, who is the only player in
the field with a mathematical chance of overtaking Montgomerie for
European number one honours. If he does so, he will become the first
New Zealander to achieve a feat that eluded 1963 British Open champion – and
childhood idol - Bob Charles.
Meanwhile, in the third “competition within a competition” – the
battle for Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year honours - Spain’s
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (winner of the 2005 The KLM
Open) carded a 73 to the 78 of main rival Peter Gustafsson (who lost
a play-off for the 2005 Open de España at San Roque) and Richard
Finch’s 79.
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