Date: May 19, 2008
Author:

Finch bathes in victory glow

England&aposs Richard Finch not only won his second European Tour title Sunday, but did something for which he will always be remembered. Going along smoothly and with a three-stroke lead on the final hole of the Irish Open at Adare Manor, the 30-year-old had no idea what was just about to happen. His second shot to the par-five 18th finished on the bank of the River Maigue and, in playing his third, Finch lost his balance and fell into the water. Suddenly he was Europe&aposs answer to &aposAquaman&apos – the name given to American Woody Austin when he did the same thing in September&aposs Presidents Cup. On clambering out, Finch was able to laugh about it straight away for the simple reason that his ball was on the green. Otherwise, it might have been a different matter. And although he then three-putted for a bogey six, the former English amateur champion was able to celebrate adding the trophy and a first prize of 330,297 pounds to his New Zealand Open success in December. “It was not a choice really,” he replied when asked about his early bath. “It was a bit of an awkward stance, but I never gave falling in a thought.” “The momentum of the follow-through took me round and in.” Finch, fighting for his future on the European Tour until the final day of last season, shot a closing 70 for a 10-under-par total of 278 and a two-stroke victory over Chilean Felipe Aguilar. Only 218th in the world entering the event, Finch now stands fifth on the Order of Merit – 105 places higher than he was last season – and is only just outside the top 10 in the Ryder Cup standings. “I was a lot calmer than I was in New Zealand, and although my swing was not great ,I felt a lot more on control,” he said. Peter O&aposMalley was the best of the Australians at even-par after a closing 74, while Scott Strange (71) was at two-over. Richard Green, who started so promisingly to tie for the lead after the first round, wilted to finish with a 76 and a three-over-par total. Welshman Bradley Dredge, keen to make up for losing a play-off to Padraig Harrington a year ago, had been one ahead going into the day, but the curse of the overnight lead struck him as well. On Friday, Green and Jeev Milkha Singh scored 74 and 76, on Saturday Michael Lorenzo-Vera fell out of contention with a 75 and Dredge handed over pole position when he followed an opening three-putt bogey with a double-bogey only two holes later. Joint third on seven under were Lee Westwood – unable to reproduce the magic of his third round 64 – Swede Robert Karlsson, Dutchman Maarten Lafeber and Irishman Gary Murphy. As Dredge stumbled at the start, Finch did drop a shot himself at the short fourth, but simply by picking off birdies at the next three par fives – and making a couple of crucial par-saving putts – he became the man to catch. Aguilar did cut the gap to one with a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th, but fatally went in the water – with his ball rather than his body – on the short 16th for a double-bogey five. When Finch then birdied the 378-yard 15th, he was four clear and, but for the unexpected splash on the last, cruised in. The home fans had earlier been given hope of a second successive win for one of their own when Murphy, without a victory in more than 200 Tour starts, birdied four of the first six and shared the lead. He was part of a six-way tie at one point, but three-putted the eighth and bogeyed the 13th as well before producing a closing birdie. One shot further back in seventh was 19-year-old Rory McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, while Dredge could finish only joint eighth after a 76. Darren Clarke, two off the lead until he finished his third round with a triple-bogey eight, finished in joint 16th place on two -under with Paul McGinley, while defending champion Harrington was down in 31st spot on one-over. Colin Montgomerie, meanwhile, was still looking for his first top-40 strokeplay finish since January after a closing 76 dropped him to five-over. At least he avoided what happened to Italian Edoardo Molinari and Spaniard Luis Claverie. They each had a 10 on their card, Molinari&aposs coming on the 167-yard 16th after he put three balls in the lake and a fourth in a bunker. Final Round Scores from the Irish Open, Ireland -10: Richard Finch 71, 72, 65, 70 -8: Felipe Aguilar 71, 72, 67, 70 -7: Robert Karlsson 71, 70, 69, 71, Maarten Lafeber 71, 71, 72, 67, Gary Murphy 74, 70, 68, 69, Lee Westwood 75, 70, 64, 72 -6: Rory McIlroy 70, 72, 70, 70 -5: Bradley Dredge 68, 73, 66, 76, Alvaro Quiros Garcia 72, 72, 68, 71 -4: Martin Kaymer 77, 68, 70, 69, James Kingston 75, 68, 69, 72, Anthony Wall 72, 70, 70, 72 -3: Johan Edfors 68, 73, 73, 71, David Frost 74, 70, 66, 75, Alvaro Velasco 69, 72, 72, 72 -2: Darren Clarke 72, 69, 72, 73, Mikko Ilonen 77, 66, 68, 75, Lee James 69, 73, 70, 74, Pablo Larrazabal 70, 70, 73, 73, Paul McGinley 73, 69, 73, 71, Jarmo Sandelin 76, 66, 71, 73, Oliver Fisher 72, 75, 69, 71 Also: E: Peter O Malley (Australia) 70, 73, 71, 74 +2: Scott Strange (Australia) 71, 74, 74, 71 +3: Richard Green (Australia) 66, 74, 75, 76 +13: Matthew Millar (Australia) 73, 73, 79, 76