Date: May 28, 2007
Author:

Hansen trumps Rose

Justin Rose&aposs hopes of a triumphant return to Europe were dashed in dramatic fashion as Dane Anders Hansen claimed the BMW PGA Championship in dramatic fashion. With a 20-foot birdie putt at the first hole of a play-off 36-year-old Hansen won the European Tour&aposs flagship event for the second time in six years. Richard Green was the leading Australian, finishing in a tie for eighth place just four shots from Hansen and Rose, while compatriot Marcus Fraser was a shot further adrift in equal 12th after closing with a disappointing 78. Rose, playing his first tournament in England for three years, had brought the biggest cheer of the day from the crowd when he played a brilliant pitch to two feet to match Hansen&aposs closing birdie four in regulation play. That meant they tied on the eight-under-par mark of 280 after a closing day of good, bad and some really ugly golf, with overnight leaders Paul Broadhurst and Ross Fisher incredibly shooting 80 and 84 respectively. Rose then played the better approach when the pair returned to the 18th hole for sudden death but Hansen had the perfect pace and line on his putt and won the first prize when the 26-year-old Englishman missed from 15 feet. “This means a lot more than the first time,” said Hansen. “It&aposs a fantastic feeling. The first time I was playing really good coming in, but a lot of things have happened since. “I&aposve not played great this year. I&aposve just kept shooting myself in foot. I&aposve also missed my kids – I have family in Denmark and it&aposs really hard being away from them. “I&aposm disappointed it&aposs taken five years [to win again]. And I never would have guessed that it would come here.” For Rose it was yet another near-miss. In the Masters at the start of April – that was his last start as he had more back trouble the following week – he was one behind Zach Johnson with two to play but double-bogeyed the penultimate hole and finished fifth. “I guess it is disappointing,” he stated. “You are that close when you are in a play-off but it was over so quickly. He holed his putt and I missed mine. “All in all, though, it&aposs hard not to be pleased about playing so well at home in a tournament I really love and came to watch many times as a kid.” Rose did have another double bogey, going out of bounds with his hooked drive at the ninth, but this time he came straight back with a birdie, as he did after bogeying the 15th. And his last-hole birdie in regulation play should fill him with confidence next time he is in contention. “It was somewhat similar to 98,” he said, being reminded of the pitch-in for birdie with which he took fourth place as a 17-year-old amateur in the Open at Birkdale. Even though the expected tempest never arrived and the final round was completed without interruptions you would have thought conditions could not have been tougher by the way overnight leaders Broadhurst and Fisher performed. They set off again at 10-under-par, but finished two under and two over respectively. Broadhurst had two sevens in his 80, Fisher kicked off with five straight bogeys and later had an eight in a nightmare 84 that was the worst round of the day. They were not alone in making a mess of things, though. Richard Sterne led on his own, but followed a bogey on the ninth with a double bogey at the short next. That handed top spot to 2005 winner Angel Cabrera, who had turned in a superb 31. But the big-hitting Argentinean simply had to be embarrassed by his playing of the 15th. Still ahead at the time the world&aposs 53rd-best player topped his drive barely 100 yards, then found sand and rough en route to a double-bogey six from which he could not recover. While this was all going on Vijay Singh, 10 behind after he bogeyed the second hole, posted a 66 and suddenly found himself sharing top spot. And there he remained until Hansen birdied the last from seven feet and waited to see if anybody could match him. Rose was the only one who could. Sterne had a chance to make it a three-man play-off, but his pitch spun off the edge of the green and he had to settle for a par five and a share of third place with Singh. Australian Peter O&aposMalley finished the tournament with a 75 to be one-over-par in equal 30th place, while Matthew Millar closed with an 80 to finish with a share of 60th position. Fellow Australian Brett Rumford missed out on an unofficial European Tour record by five minutes today when he raced round Wentworth in less than two hours. First man out at in the rain-soaked final round the 29-year-old from Perth had only a lady scorer for company as he completed a five-over-par 77 in 113 minutes. Rumford finished the tournament at 16-over-par in outright 73rd place. Final results from the BMW PGA Championship, England (par 72): -8: Anders Hansen 74 70 67 69*, Justin Rose 66 70 73 71 -7: Vijay Singh 73 72 70 66, Richard Sterne 68 73 66 74 -6: Angel Cabrera 70 66 76 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez 70 68 72 72 -5: Luke Donald 71 72 71 69 -4: Niclas Fasth 72 73 68 71, Richard Green (Australia) 73 73 67 71, Jaidee Thongchai 73 70 71 70, Henrik Stenson 70 73 72 69 Also: +1: Peter O&aposMalley (Australia) 71 72 71 75 +9: Matthew Millar (Australia) 69 69 79 80 +16: Brett Rumford (Australia) 77 69 81 77 *Hansen defeated Rose in a play-off on the first extra hole