Price stutters but steadies to triumph at final hole

It was not like this against Phil Mickelson. At the Ryder Cup last September Phillip Price produced one of the great upsets by beating the then world No 2 at the 16th hole. With two holes to play here at the K Club in the final round of the European Open Price still had plenty of work to do.

He led by three with five to play and this steady performer looked to be safely heading towards the biggest victory of his career. But he dropped a shot at the 14th to fall back to 16-under-par and then both Alastair Forsyth and Mark McNulty birdied the last hole to set the target at 15 under.

The 17th hole is fraught with danger with the Liffey on the left-hand side but Price found the green in two without getting wet. But his long putt ran two feet past the hole and after taking his time over the return effort, to his horror, it lipped out.

Price now needed to birdie the par-five last to win. After a fine drive he was in position to go for the green across the water and, better safe than sorry, found the back fringe. He then chipped down to three feet and, forgetting the 17th, holed this one for the victory.

Price is not a demonstrative person but his immediate reaction in punching the air several times spoke volumes about what the victory meant. "This is an incredible achievement," he said. "I've been short on wins in my career, especially in the big ones but everyone was here this week."

The Price was right as he collected the biggest cheque of his career, a colossal £333,330 that took him to sixth in the order of merit. His two previous victories had both come in Portugal, in 1994 and 2001. The latter had helped him into the Ryder Cup team but the 36-year-old, wearing Welsh red on the final day, had struggled for form since.

Here he led, or shared the lead, every day. Darren Clarke, one of the local heroes, was tied with Price after 36 holes but the Welshman produced a sterling performance over the weekend playing in the final twosome each day. "It is uncomfortable to be leading as you tend to get defensive," Price said. "I was being very conservative but although I took a lot from the Ryder Cup, this experience in a big, four-round tournament will give me a lot of confidence. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season now."

Apart from Padraig Harrington's three victories, and the tie between Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer at last November's Volvo Masters, Price is the only other member of the Ryder Cup to have won on the European Tour since the victory at The Belfry.

The only real threat to his leadership early in the round came from Clarke. The champion here two years ago had played with Price on Saturday when the Welshman created a three-stroke lead with a 67, while Clarke could not get the birdie putts to drop.

It was a different matter yesterday when Clarke needed only six putts to cover the first five holes. A birdie at the second and then an eagle at the fourth, where he holed from 20 feet on the fringe, momentarily put him level with Price.

But Clarke had also needed to get up and down from beside the green at the first and the fifth and it was this inaccuracy in his long game that was to hurt his chances over the next few holes. He missed the green at the sixth on the left but this time failed to chip and putt, while his approach at the seventh and his tee shot at the short eighth both found water.

Those three bogeys dropped Clarke back to where he started and he lost another shot at the 17th before holing a long putt for an eagle at the last to be 12 under. He was overtaken by Gary Evans, who also eagled the last to be fourth on his own, as well as McNulty and Forsyth.

Evans was also second at the Diageo Championship at Gleneagles two weeks ago and his run of five under for the last 13 holes again showed his fine form. He is now in position to qualify for the Open Championship from the mini order of merit that closes after this week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

McNulty's golf was remarkable for a 49-year-old who has not won in Europe since 1996. The Zimbabwean was delighted with his performance for the week after working hard with his coach, David Leadbetter. "I think that is the best I have played for five years," he said.

Lee Westwood, the winner here in both 1999 and 2000, achieved his first top-10 finish for almost two years by closing with a 69 to be nine under. Westwood, the European No 1 three years ago, has suffered a long time for taking a break from the game at the start of the 2001 season but now has something to build on.

EUROPEAN OPEN FINAL SCORES

GB and Irl unless stated

272 P Price 66 69 67 70. 273 A Forsyth 66 70 69 68; M McNulty (Zim) 68 69 68 68. 275 G Evans 68 70 69 68. 276 E Romero (Arg) 69 68 71 68; D Clarke 67 68 70 71. 278 A Coltart 67 70 70 71; J Sandelin (Swe) 72 66 67 73. 279 L Westwood 70 71 69 69; B Lane 70 70 69 70; A Cabrera (Arg) 70 69 66 74. 280 C Montgomerie 68 71 73 68. 281 C Rodiles (Sp) 73 70 70 68; P Casey 73 71 68 69; R Russell 71 73 67 70. 282 T Bjorn (Den) 71 71 72 68; R Jacquelin (Fr) 72 70 71 69; M Roe 71 70 71 70. 283 R Chapman 70 73 72 68; M Ilonen (Fin) 69 71 73 70; D Lynn 71 71 70 71; N O'Hern (Aus) 70 72 70 71. 284 B Davis 76 66 74 68; M Blackey 73 69 71 71; B Langer (Ger) 73 67 71 73; M James 72 69 68 75. 285 J Bickerton 71 73 71 70, R Muntz (Neth) 73 69 71 72, G Murphy 67 75 71 72, C Schwartzel (SA) 72 64 76 73, S Hansen (Den) 67 75 69 74, S Webster 70 76 65 74, R Goosen (SA) 66 74 68 77. 286 M Gronberg (Swe) 73 65 77 71, N Faldo 75 70 69 72, D Carter 73 73 67 73. 287 M Angel Jimenez (Sp) 74 72 73 68, N Fasth (Swe) 70 75 73 69, A Hansen (Den) 73 73 71 70, B Dredge 75 70 71 71, P McGinley 72 73 70 72, S Scahill (NZ) 69 71 74 73, D Fichardt (SA) 74 71 69 73, F Andersson (Swe) 67 74 69 77, K Eriksson (Swe) 69 72 67 79. 288 J Donaldson 71 70 77 70, A Raitt 69 73 74 72, R Sterne (SA) 74 70 71 73, R Green (Aus) 73 73 68 74. 289 J Clement (Swit) 73 72 74 70, A Wall 74 72 73 70, M Tunnicliff 74 68 76 71, S Webster 73 71 73 72, S Lyle 72 73 70 74, S Gallacher 71 74 70 74. 290 S Leaney (Aus) 74 71 73 72, B Rumford (Aus) 75 71 72 72, N Vanhootegem (Bel) 74 71 72 73, D Gilford 73 73 69 75, N Colsaerts (Bel) 75 69 70 76. 291 M Pilkington 72 72 77 70, A Atwal (Ind) 76 70 74 71, D Howell 71 74 74 72, P Harrington 73 73 73 72, B Mason 72 72 74 73, D McGrane 72 72 73 73, G Owen 70 74 72 75, M Olander (Swe) 71 71 73 76, G McDowell 69 73 73 76, D Drysdale 74 72 69 76.