Jacquelin ends a long wait for victory in Sicily

GOLF/SICILIAN OPEN:DAMIEN McGRANE was one of those who had departed the island long before Raphael Jacquelin yesterday got around to belatedly securing his third career win on the European Tour, with a one- shot win over Anthony Wall in the Sicilian Open.

By then, the Meath man was preparing to catch a Ryanair flight from neighbouring Malta for a night at home before hitting the skies again for this week’s Andalucian Masters in Malaga.

As far as McGrane is concerned, the season is young yet.

At least he managed to get in four rounds in Sicily, leaving the best until the end to hint that things are coming around as he prepares to increase the intensity of his season.

Spain this week, Morocco next week.

After that, the Far East – China and Korea – beckons.

That quest for another tour win and to improve his world ranking, currently 144th, remains a strong desire.

While admitting to some rustiness in Sicily, McGrane is aware of what work needs to be done.

“I’m missing some fairways and missing some greens. I’m not holing any putts of any length, definitely not holing consistently from outside 10 feet.

“I’m struggling from that point of view. But it is a confidence thing and, if you hole a few early on, you can get forward momentum. I just haven’t got forward momentum all season, I haven’t been making birdies.”

He added: “I’ve Spain this week and Morocco next week and, after that, I’ve two weeks off before going to Asia where I’ve tended to play well in the past. But you need to go out with a bit of confidence and hole a few putts. You know, we all work on the same principles and I am the same as everyone else in that regard . . . I’ve got to try to be patient.”

McGrane is part of a seven-strong Irish contingent competing in Malaga, where British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen is defending his title. McGrane is joined by Shane Lowry, Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Michael Hoey and Paul McGinley.

Meanwhile, Jacquelin – without a win on tour since the BMW Asian Open in 2007 – finally got the job done in Sicily, where he held off a strong challenge from Wall to take the inaugural Sicilian Open.

The Frenchman completed the final six holes of his weather-interrupted final round to shoot a closing 68 for 272, 12-under, which gave him a one-stroke winning margin over the hard-chasing Wall.

The critical moment in the contest came on the par-four 17th, where Wall – who had started the day one stroke behind only to draw level with a birdie on the 16th – put his approach into water on the penultimate hole and ran up a double-bogey six.

“It wasn’t easy,” conceded Jacquelin. “Anthony put the pressure on me right from the start. I actually felt a bit tired this morning and my ball-striking wasn’t as good as it has been. But I suppose with a 5am wake-up call, that’s what I was expecting. But I stayed patient.”

Indeed, Jacquelin closed out with a good par on the tough 18th, where Wall kept the fight going to the death with a birdie.

He added: “It is never easy to win on tour with so many guys fighting for one place, so it is always special to win. The best thing for me is that I feel I am still improving, even at 36 years old! Now it is time to win a bigger one.”

Wall, without a win on tour since the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa in 2000, all of 301 events ago, was disappointed to come up short in the end. The second shot on the 17th was the defining moment.

As he explained, “I thought I had hit the green on the 17th. It was just a yard short and pitched on top of the slope and pitched straight left into the water. It was tough, because if it had landed anywhere else, it would have just come to rest on the edge of the green. So that was a tough one to take.”

(Irish in bold, Brit unless stated)

272 – R Jacquelin (Fra) 66 69 69 68.

273 – A Wall 66 67 72 68.

277 – J Sjoholm (Swe) 70 68 70 69, JM Lara (Spa) 65 75 68 69.

279 – C Del Moral (Spa) 68 70 71 70, P Whiteford 74 68 66 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71 69 68, S Dyson 71 70 67 71, O Floren (Swe) 69 68 71 71, S Jamieson 71 70 68 70, J Elson 69 69 69 72, L Gagli (Ita) 72 69 69 69.

280 – M Crespi (Ita) 69 68 72 71, L Slattery 72 72 67 69, J Donaldson 73 67 70 70, I Garrido (Spa) 69 71 73 67, B Wiesberger (Aut) 69 71 70 70, G Coetzee (SA) 70 72 72 66, G Storm 69 75 67 69.

281 – S Dodd 65 72 72 72, S Hansen (Den) 69 70 69 73, O Henningsson (Swe) 71 67 72 71, G Bourdy (Fra) 73 71 67 70, V Dubuisson (Fra) 70 71 68 72, S Khan 70 73 69 69.

282 – S Webster 67 73 70 72, MA Carlsson (Swe) 72 67 72 71, C Montgomerie 69 69 71 73, P Price 71 69 67 75, Peter Lawrie 72 71 66 73, S Gallacher 71 70 72 69, A Forsyth 72 71 74 65, M Foster 72 71 69 70.

283 – C Wood 67 71 70 75, C Nilsson (Swe) 71 72 69 71, S Kapur (Ind) 70 72 69 72, J Luiten (Ned) 68 71 73 71, A Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 69 72 68 74, J Bickerton 68 75 69 71, F Zanotti (Par) 68 69 72 74, M Quiros (Spa) 75 69 67 72.

284 – S Lewton 72 72 67 73, R Green (Aus) 68 67 73 76, A Canizares (Spa) 69 68 72 75.

285 – Damien McGrane 70 73 74 68, R Dinwiddie 70 69 69 77, P Lawrie 72 68 73 72, R Coles 71 72 72 70.

286 – D Gaunt (Aus) 67 75 78 66, P Waring 75 69 69 73, F Delamontagne (Fra) 72 71 71 72, M Zions (Aus) 67 77 70 72, K Ferrie 73 69 67 77, D Lynn 70 69 75 72, M Warren 72 72 72 70, A Marshall 70 73 72 71, W Ormsby (Aus) 70 72 73 71.

287 – JM Singh (Ind) 72 70 73 72, R Rock 71 70 71 75, M Campbell (NZ) 73 71 69 74.

288 – M Lundberg (Swe) 69 72 72 75, G Murray 74 69 72 73, B Etchart (Spa) 70 74 71 73, R Echenique (Arg) 69 75 72 72, L Saltman 73 70 74 71.

289 – S Benson 74 70 75 70.

290 – MF Haastrup (Den) 71 73 73 73.

291 – A Velasco (Spa) 73 70 70 78, A Perrino (Ita) 71 71 75 74.

292 – J Huldahl (Den) 72 72 74 74.

293 – M Wiegele (Aut) 71 73 76 73, M Jonzon (Swe) 68 74 77 74, S Garcia (Spa) 68 74 73 78.

294 – P Edberg (Swe) 72 72 78 72.