SEVEN DAYS LATE, BUT ANDRES

ROMERO SHOWS HE CAN BE

A WINNER

There is some justice in pro golf after all. Last Sunday, Andres Romero led the Open field - Harrington, Garcia and all - by two shots with "only" to holes to play .. but a double bogey and a bogey meant he missed the eventual play-off by a single shot.
Seven days later Romero, pictured right, won the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship at rain-soaked Gut Kaden, Hamburg.
It is the 26-year-old Argentian's first European Tour victory.
He had a closing round of 70 for an 19 under par total of 270 and three-shot victory over England's Oliver Wilson and Denmark's Soren Hansen.
England's Zane Scotland, second overnight, struggled to a 76 for a share of 11th.
The first prize of £403,510 took Romero's earnings for the fortnight to more than £690,000 and booked his place in next week's WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron as well as securing a five-year European Tour exemption.
Romero began the final round two shots clear of Zane Scotland and was five clear after four birdies and a bogey in the first seven holes.
Despite a double bogey on the ninth, Romero looked in complete control when he birdied the 11th to move four clear again, but Wilson birdied the 16th to cut the gap and it was down to two when Romero bogeyed the same hole 30 minutes later.
This time there was to be no double bogey-bogey finish however and Romero sealed the win in style with a birdie on the 18th before being drenched in champagne by fellow Argentinian players and caddies.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72).
269 Andres Romero (Arg) 68 68 63 70.
272 Oliver Wilson 66 70 70 66, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 70 66 64.
274 Peter O'Malley (Aus) 69 72 68 65.
275 Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 70 68 68, Alexander Noren (Swe) 67 71 65 72.
276 Lee Slattery 66 69 67 74, Charley Hoffman (USA) 68 72 67 69, Steve Webster 73 67 70 66, Brett Wetterich (USA) 69 70 67 70.
277 Zane Scotland 67 68 66 76, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 78 65 66 68, Ross Fisher 69 72 68 68, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 70 69 67.
278 Anton Haig (Rsa) 69 69 72 68, Benn Barham 69 70 68 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 68 71 70, Miles Tunnicliff 73 69 66 70, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 72 70 65.
279 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 71 66 73, Sam Walker 70 73 67 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 72 65 71, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 72 68 69 70, John Bickerton 68 71 68 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 69 71 68 71
280 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 72 67 71, Tino Schuster (Ger) 69 72 66 73, David Lynn 68 73 69 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 67 72 71 70, Matthew Millar (Aus) 70 71 68 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 75 71 66, Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 67 74 70 69, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 73 67 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 69 70 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 65 72 69, Ian Garbutt 71 69 71 69
281 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 67 70 73, Paul McGinley 72 70 69 70, Peter Lawrie 72 69 70 70
282 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 69 70 72, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 71 69 70 72, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 72 71 68, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 71 71 68, Kyron Sullivan 71 72 67 72, Steven O'Hara 69 70 70 73, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 72 71 69, Anthony Wall 70 73 69 70, Alastair Forsyth 70 73 69 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 71 70 69 72, Bradley Dredge 69 69 73 71
283 Paul Casey 68 70 68 77, Damien McGrane 69 71 72 71, Ariel Canete (Arg) 70 71 66 76, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 72 67 73, David Frost (Rsa) 68 72 69 74, Mark Foster 71 71 70 71
284 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 76 70 71, Oliver Fisher 71 72 68 73
285 David Griffiths 70 72 68 75, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 69 75 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 69 71 73, Terry Price (Aus) 71 69 74 71
286 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 72 67 73 74, Stephen Gallacher 68 74 72 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71 74 71, Phillip Price 74 69 73 70
Gary Birch jr (Ger) 73 70 72 71
287 Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 73 71 74, Garry Houston 72 70 71 74, Max Kramer (Aut) 71 72 70 74, Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 71 73 73
288 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 73 74 71, Marc Warren 68 73 75 72, Johan Axgren (Swe) 67 76 75 70, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72 71 71 74
289 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 69 74 71 75
290 Gary Murphy 70 73 73 74, Edward Rush 71 72 71 76
291 Sion Bebb 72 70 73 76