GOLF:Lancome Trophy: A leaderboard devoid of Irish and British players saw Alex Cejka, born in the Czech Republic but a naturalised German, win the Lancome Trophy at Versailles yesterday.
His 12-under-par 272 beat Carlos Rodiles of Spain by two shots, with Argentina's Angel Cabrera and the unheralded Frenchman, Jean-Francois Lucquin, tied on 275.
Four Britons managed to reach eight-under, and although Paul Eales did briefly lead before falling away over the last nine holes, neither Bradley Dredge, Ian Poulter nor Gordon Brand jnr threatened at any stage.
When Cejka won the Volvo Masters in 1995, it looked as if he might become a force in Europe. But he has not won on the European tour since and his hobbies, listed as "fast cars, motorbikes and pool" might offer a clue.
Yesterday, though, in difficult conditions, he had only one bogey, led for the last nine holes and the £150,000 prize will help meet expenses next week when he starts the long process of trying to obtain a card to play on the US tour.
Sergio Garcia, of the competitors here who play in this week's Cisco World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth, recorded the lowest score with an eight-under 276, despite being some way from his best. Ian Woosnam, who will defend his title, was one worse after a disappointing final round of 72, one-over, in which he failed to put pressure on any of the leaders. He was not even leading Welshman, that honour going to Dredge.
Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie who, given the way the seedings frequently work at Wentworth, could meet in the first round on Thursday, both finished on 281, while Justin Rose beat only eight of the field with his 290.
Mark Pilkington, a 24-year-old Welsh speaker from Morfa Nefyn, has had an erratic season, mixing five top 20s with 13 missed cuts in 31 events. Before this past weekend he was 80th in the Volvo Order of Merit, a position which did no credit to his talent and after three rounds at St Nom he was headed for another lowly finish, being tied for 48th.
Yesterday, however, he produced one of those rounds in which it all goes right and his nine-under par 62 broke the course record by a shot. It also won him a Rolex watch, worth $6,000, and, best of all, took him to joint 13th in the tournament and 77th in the Order. Nor was it just a putting round - he took 28 strokes on the greens, an extraordinarily high number for such a low number.
Pilkington made sure of breaking the course record by one shot with an outrageous birdie on his final hole, the par-four ninth. After spraying his drive on to the adjacent 18th fairway, he played a superb second shot to 10 feet of the flag before sinking the birdie putt.
Nick Faldo is still finding consistency elusive. Having opened with a brilliant 65, he took 74 in the second round then scored a reasonable 68 in the third round, to move within three shots of the overnight leaders, Cejka and Maarten Lafeber.
Given that Garcia won this title last year when he was four behind Retief Goosen with four to play, Faldo was in contention and when the wind started to gust and the week's first rain fell, his experience should have been even more valuable.
But at the ninth, where the pin is set close to the pond on the left, Faldo pulled his second shot, it hit the green to the left of the hole and ran on into the water. That cost him a double bogey six, to be out in a two-over par 38 and, effectively, out of the tournament.
He is also still out of favour with his peers. On Saturday he played with Jean-Francois Remesy and hardly a word was exchanged between them. The Frenchman, asked later about Faldo, responded with words to the effect that he was a passionate golfer, a remarkable player but "humainement ce n'est pas ma tasse de the". (As a person, he's not my cup of tea.)
Paul McGinley and Des Smyth finished tied for 38th place on two under par 282, the Dubliner shooting a final round 70 and the veteran Smyth finishing with a level par 71. Graeme McDowell shot a final round of 71 to finish on five over par 289.
- Guardian Service
