GOLF: France's Christian Cevaer twice holed out for eagle to claim his first European Tour victory in an amazing finish to the Spanish Open in Fuerteventura yesterday.
Cevaer (34), holed his 137-yard second shot to the opening hole of the final round, then repeated the trick on the 16th to overhaul long-time leader Ricardo Gonzalez.
The Argentinian led by three shots with three holes to play and looked set to claim back-to-back victories following his Seville Open win seven days ago. But moments after Cevaer pitched in on the 349-yard 16th, Gonzalez drove out of bounds on the same hole, and after driving through the green with his second ball, three-putted to run up a double-bogey six.
Cevaer then had to save par after going through the back of the 18th to stay one shot ahead and watch as Gonzalez, Swede Peter Hedblom and overnight leader David Park all failed to birdie the last to force a play-off.
Cevaer's final round of 69 gave him a nine-under-par total of 271, the winner's cheque for €275,000 and a two-year tour exemption.
Gonzalez, Hedblom and Park shared second place on eight under.
"It's fabulous and I'm just really happy that my perseverance has paid off," said Cevaer, who was world junior champion aged 17 and won the prestigious PAC-10 championship while gaining a psychology degree at Stanford University in California.
"I'm happy that I've clinched one of the first opportunities I have had, because I know how tough it is and you do see guys finishing on the podium a lot without winning.
"This is very encouraging for me. I would have had to be happy if I'd finished in the top three, but the opportunity came back to me and I focused very much on my last five holes.
"It was a fantastic stroke of luck holing out that lob shot on 16. I hit it perfect, but we all know there is not much difference between it going in or finishing close."
"This means a great deal because I can be more relaxed and be really confident in investing all my efforts and work into my game," he added. "It was frustrating to play seven tournaments this season, make five cuts, and still be 130th on the Order of Merit, but you have to be patient."
That patience has certainly been rewarded, and Cevaer is now ninth on the money list and 17th on the Ryder Cup points list.
Gonzalez, who would have been the first player to win back-to-back events since Vijay Singh in 2001, moved up to eighth on the Order of Merit, but would have been third if he had held on to win.
"It was one bad shot," said the 34-year-old. "The shot went wrong because I wasn't thinking straight, but finishing second isn't bad."
Park was also pleased to finish second despite failing to hold on to his one-shot lead. It was the 29-year-old's first top-three finish in 135 events since he won the European Grand Prix in 1999 on his second tour start, and a good recovery after going to the turn in 40.
"It was good to fight back the way I did," said Park, who feared he had incurred a penalty on the fifth when he went to smooth over the sand he had moved when playing a bunker shot, only to see the ball roll back into the hazard.
"In no way was I trying to test the ground ahead of the next shot, but I thought I'd incurred a penalty and it was a little bit disconcerting, a bit unnerving to be honest.
"I knew there were exceptions to the rule and John Paramor (European Tour chief referee) mentioned it a couple of holes later. I should have asked right there and then because I played a couple of holes thinking about it."
Of the Irish, Gary Murphy closed with a 71 to finish on three over par, tied for 45th, to collect €8,910.
Graeme McDowell also shot a 71 to lie on six over, worth €4,620, while Damien McGrane finished at the back of the field on 15 over par, due largely to a disastrous 79 on Saturday, which included a quadruple bogey eight on the second. He earned €2,463.
