Madrid Open: Padraig Harrington came within a shot of capitalising on Paul Casey's profligacy at the Telefonica Madrid Open, but he was then run over by a charging bull.
Ricardo "El Toro" Gonzalez, from Argentina, was victorious yesterday, finishing a shot ahead of Harrington who came within a five-foot putt of forcing a play-off. And the Dubliner certainly finished far closer to the leader than he had imagined at the beginning of yesterday's rain-soaked round.
Harrington came from nowhere thanks to a spectacular, five-under-par outward nine of 31. A sequence, beginning at the fourth, of birdie, par, eagle, birdie shot him up the leaderboard.
But he flagged as he came down the straight, coming back in 34, and missing that birdie putt at 17 proved conclusive.
He had another chance at the last but missed the 15-footer too, and tapped in for his second 65 of the week.
He had been outright leader after a birdie at 14, and few would have backed him not to add another birdie to his card on the closing four. He didn't, and didn't win, but he was philosophical.
"I got going early on and got a good score going, but I didn't capitalise on the back nine," he said. "But I hit some nice shots out there, so I won't cry too much, six-under is a very good final day score."
He missed out on the €233,330 first prize but came away with a consolation cheque for €93,000. Harrington was joint second with Australia's Nick O'Hern, Casey and Sweden's Marten Olander.
Gary Murphy, the only other Irishman to make the cut, had a "disaster" of a 74, but 65th and €3,300 prizemoney has allowed him to scrape into next week's lucrative Volvo Masters at Valderrama.
"I gave myself some grey hairs out there but I'm delighted to make the Volvo," said the Kilkenny man. "I was on my way to the airport to head for Dublin, now I'm flying to Malaga, that's how close it was." He made it by two places.
Harrington had trailed England's Casey by seven at the beginning of the day.
But Casey's one-over-par 72 amounted to a collapse when compared to an opening round of 63.
"To be honest I played crap on the final two days," said Casey. "I had 36 putts today and you can't win a tournament with that number of putts. But to lead by four with one round to play I felt I had at least one hand on the trophy."
He said the unseasonably cold weather contributed to his throwing away the tournament. He said he put on too many garments to combat the icy conditions and that stiffened his swing.
"When it gets cold generally my play deteriorates as the week progresses."
It certainly did. The rot set in with a double bogey at the seventh and, confidence drained, he dropped two more shots in the next four holes.
El Toro Gonzalez lived up to his nickname, making progress in two sustained charges to his 65. At the fourth, the 34-year-old began a sequence of four consecutive birdies, and beginning at the 12th he had four birdies in five holes.
After a bogey at the second he thought his chance had gone, but in the end he could afford the luxury of a bogey at the last.
"When I three-putted the second I thought my chance had gone for me," said Gonzalez.
"I was then seven shots behind Casey and the will left me. But I got a really good par at three and started to play really well. That par was really important.
"My goal at the beginning of the week was to finish runner-up and qualify for the Volvo Masters, but at 13 I looked at the leaderboard and saw Casey had made a big mistake."
After that it was no more bull: "I said, 'now let's get serious'."
Harrington, on seven under par and lying in joint 10th place, had trailed Casey by seven at the start of the day and his was hardly the name on people's lips yesterday morning as a potential champion.
"I really didn't think I could challenge, I just said, 'if you manage eight or nine under and then you've a slight chance'," said Harrington.
His new-look set up, complete with Mike Weir waggle, is staying he says.
"The waggle was great, the waggle was brilliant, it felt more comfortable the more the pressure was on."
Collated scores and totals after the final round of theTelefonica Open de Madrid, Club de Campo, Villa de Madrid: (Gbr& Irl unless stated, Irish in bold Par 70):
270 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 70 66 65 (£162,288)
271 Padraig Harrington 65 73 68 65, Marten Olander 69 65 70 67, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 67 67 69 68, Paul Casey 63 65 71 72 (£64,780 each)
273 Matthew Blackey 70 70 68 65, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 64 71 71 67, Paul Lawrie 69 64 70 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 67 66 70 70 (£27,362)
274 Adam Scott (Aus) 72 69 68 65, (x) Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 67 70 70 67, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 71 65 70 68
275 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 68 70 67, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 69 70 69 67
276 Greg Owen 72 66 71 67, Alastair Forsyth 70 71 69 66, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 67 70 68, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 71 69 65, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 70 69 68 69
277 Thomas Levet (Fra) 66 71 72 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 67 71 69, Brian Davis 70 68 70 69, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 65 67 74 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 69 67 69 72, Andrew Coltart 69 68 68 72
278 David Park 74 63 73 68, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72 70 68 68, Jamie Spence 71 70 70 67, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 70 72 67, Bradley Dredge 69 71 68 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 70 70 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 71 68 71, Stephen Gallacher 69 64 72 73
279 Stephen Dodd 68 73 69 68, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 70 69 69, Andrew Oldcorn 71 69 68 71
280 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 68 71 70, David Lynn 73 69 68 70, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 76 66 69 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 67 68 71 74, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 71 70 68
281 David Howell 71 69 70 71, Ian Woosnam 68 72 70 71, Martin Maritz (Spa) 69 70 70 72, Miles Tunnicliff 67 70 73 71, Simon Dyson 74 66 72 69, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 70 68 74, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 71 68 74 68
282 Barry Lane 67 74 69 72, Gary Orr 72 67 72 71, Warren Bennett 69 71 72 70
283 Richard Bland 71 69 70 73, Kenneth Ferrie 72 66 70 75, David Drysdale 72 69 70 72, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 70 68 74 71, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 70 74 70, Mark Roe 68 74 72 69
284 Rolf Muntz (Ned) 71 68 73 72, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 73 72 72, Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 71 71 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 70 73 69
285 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 69 74 73
286 Nick Dougherty 69 71 72 74, Eduardo de la Riva (Spa) 73 69 73 71
287 Gary Murphy 71 68 74 74
289 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 75 67 71 76, Gary Emerson 74 68 75 72
290 Carlos Balmaseda Sanchez (Spa) 72 69 71 78
291 Raymond Russell 71 70 74 76, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 68 75 75
Retired - Lee Westwood
Withdrew - Ian Poulter
