GOLF/Welsh Open: Rarely can a tournament have been won with less of a fanfare than the Wales Open. Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, played 36 holes yesterday over the Celtic Manor course in Newport and was never once put under pressure. From David Davies at Celtic Manor
He led by five shots at the start of the final round, by six or seven for most of its duration and by five again at the finish. Even in this land of song it was not the stuff of hymns and arias.
Lawrie, in beating John Bickerton into second place, won £183,330 (€288,000). Two rounds of 70 yesterday gave him a 16-under-par total of 272; Bickerton, on 277, won £122,220 (€190,000).
Lawrie will now go to the US PGA, which starts on Thursday, with the confidence of a win - his fifth on the European Tour - behind him.
But there were others in this field, Ryder Cup players next month, looking for that same invaluable commodity but who failed to find it.
Phillip Price finished on five-over, 293, ahead of only five players, while Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood also had undistinguished weeks.
Time was when either or both would have taken apart a field of this quality, but Clarke was only three-under, 13 behind the winner, and Westwood was even more disappointing. Having gone to the turn in the final round in 34, to reach five-under, he came home in 39 to finish on two-under.
One Ryder Cup player who may be playing himself back into decent form is Paul McGinley. The Dubliner closed with a 71 to lie on eight under par for tied sixth place.
Next best of the Irish was last week's champion, Graeme McDowell, on five under, while Ronan Rafferty (69) and Des Smyth (70) joined Clarke on three under.
Next year this tournament moves to a new, and better, date, after the Volvo PGA Championship, which should ensure a higher quality field. It certainly deserves one: over 50,000 people turned out to watch this week in weather that was largely vile.
Lawrie has a good draw in this week's US PGA at Hazeltine, Minnesota. He plays with Sergio Garcia and Tom Lehman and will relish his tee-time on Thursday of 7.55am, which will give all three of them the chance to take advantage of spike-free putting surfaces.
Justin Rose and Paul McGinley also play early, at 8.45 and 8.55 respectively, and, as the championship is using two-tee starting, so do Colin Montgomerie, Niclas Fasth and Thomas Bjorn, who start at 7.45, 7.55 and 8.05 from the 10th.
But the early crowds will have eyes only for one grouping. At 8.35, from the 10th, Tiger Woods will begin his attempt to win his third major championship in a year. He will have as company the defending champion, David Toms, and the man who denied him any chance of a calendar grand slam, Ernie Els, who won the British Open at Muirfield in July.
The two will present a fascinating contrast both in appearance and style. Woods is almost whippet-like, lean and with a furious all-action method of attacking the ball. Els, on the hand, is burlier and seems to generate enormous power almost by accident. While not quite as long as the American, he is certainly long enough.
This will be the first chance to see whether Els' win has restored his confidence. The South African considered that he played well in 2000 and yet he finished runner-up in three major championships, twice to Woods, once to Vijay Singh.
The bounce went out of his golf after that, partly because he was not just beaten by Woods in the Open and US Open but by eight and 15 shots respectively.
Westwood plays with two of the world's most promising players, Charles Howell (US) and Adam Scott (Australia), but Nick Faldo will have to close his eyes when one of his partners is on the tee. He can expect to be outdriven by up to 80 yards by John Daly.
Guardian Service
