LOOKING out at the torrential rain here at Aroeira yesterday morning, the temptation would have been to take the money and run. But Wayne Riley wanted the satisfaction of winning the Portuguese Open over 72 holes and he got his wish when a closing 70 for a 13 under par aggregate of 271, earned him top prize of £54,160 by a two stroke margin.
Riley had 20 minutes to tee off time when the heavens opened and play had to e suspended for three hours and 10 minutes. "Guys were coming up, shaking my hand and calling me a lucky so and so," he said afterwards. "But hand on heart, I didn't want to win it that way. I wanted four rounds, whatever the outcome."
This also looked attractive to Des Smyth, when he reached the back of the green with a five wood shot of 250 yards, downwind at the long 10th. At that stage, Smyth was looking towards an aggregate of eight or nine under par and a handsome, five figure cheque. The prospect became even brighter when a 40 foot putt found the target for an eagle three.
From a position of six under par, however, he managed to cover the remaining eight holes in no better than one over, for a closing 70 and a total of 279. In the circumstances, it was disappointing to have to settle for a share of 14th place and £4,775.
Still, his Irish colleagues would gladly have accepted his score, among them Padraig Harrington who was clearly annoyed with a final round of 72 for 283. Despite earning £1,695 for a share of 45th place, he emphasised his displeasure by immediately setting off for the practice green with his coach, Howard Bennett, to work on his chipping and putting.
Bennett was in the Algarve last week coaching the GUI international panel, and he is filling the same role this week for the inaugural training session of the ILGU, here at Aroeira.
Said Harrington: "My short game is just awful, what with duffed chips and missing short putts. A level par round wouldn't have been the end of the world, but I'm disgusted to have gone over par.
The mood was clearly prompted by a bogey, bogey finish which was the product of missing the green at the 299 yard eighth (his 17th) with a three iron, and taking four to get down from a bunker at the back of the 10th green. It seemed no consolation to him that a former Walker Cup colleague, Stephen Gallacher, who was one of his playing partners, covered the par four first and second holes in horrendous figures of eight, six.
Indeed it was interesting to compare Harrington's reaction to that of David Feherty who, in a stronger position overnight, also closed with a 72. He, too, finished disappointingly, with bogeys at the 14th (three putts), 15th (second shot in water) and 16th (three putts), but he could see a positive side to the exercise. "I played fairly nicely over the last two weeks," he said.
In fact with a cheque of £4,875 in Dubai and £2,915 for tied 27th yesterday he has earned £7,790 for this two week sojourn on the European Tour. Feherty heads back to Dallas today, but will return to competitive action on this side of the Atlantic in the Cannes Open and the Turespana Masters in the second fortnight in April.
Francis Howley, who joined Harrington, Smyth, Jimmy Heggarty, David Higgins and John McHenry en route to Madeira on Sunday night, finished with a common complaint. "I hit 14 greens in regulation but couldn't make a putt," he said after sharing 52nd place for £1,370. His longest birdie effort was a four footer at the sixth, and the only other birdie of his round came at the 18th where he hit a glorious seven iron to 18 inches from the pin.
Not to be out of step with the majority of his Irish colleagues, Paul McGinley turned a promising round into a mundane effort of level par through poor putting for bogeys at the second, third and fourth his 11th, 12th and 13th. Before heading home for colleague Darren Clarke's wedding next Saturday, he had the chance of a useful score with three birdies on a back nine of 33, but slipped to a 71 for 287 and £1,116.
Smyth, whose best finish so far this season was a share of 10th place in Sun City, produced some sharply contrasting play after the 10th. Indeed he failed to card a par for the first six holes of the back nine which he covered in one under par. But there was the satisfaction of brilliantly saving par at the last, where he left a difficult bunker recovery two feet from the hole.
Riley, the overnight leader by two strokes from Olle Karlsson and Martin Gates, eased much of the pressure on himself by hitting a glorious three iron second shot of 224 yards to the long 10th, where he holed an 18 footer for an eagle three. Still, Gates and Mark Davis got to within a stroke of him on either nine, but lost the momentum.
"It had become a mind game and I decided I had to keep attacking," said the Australian whose previous European victory was in the Scottish Open last July. "What really pleases me is that I did it the right way."
