Sunday, July 15, 2007

Top American meets the bogey man at holes 72 and 73


GOOD GREGORY! HAVRET
BEATS MICKELSON IN
PLAY-OFF TO WIN
SCOTTISH OPEN

Who said Frenchmen couldn't stand the heat in the golfing kitchen!
Forget about Jean Van de Velde, Carnoustie 1999 and all that and remember one of his compatriots, Gregory Havret, in future.
Havret, ranked 320th in the world, pulled off one of the golfing shocks of the season when he beat American star Phil Mickelson in a play-off to win the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond today.
Mickelson led by one stroke with one hole of the 72-hole tournament to play but bogeyed the last and did the same in the play-off.
Rank outsider Havret, 30, pictured above, was rewarded not only with cheque for £500,000, almost four times the previous biggest of his career just last week, but also a place in the Open at Carnoustie starting on Thursday.
Even after seeing the last of a three-stroke lead disappear when he bogeyed the 16th Mickelson appeared back on course for his expected victory - the 34th of his professional career, but first outside the United States since 1993 - when he rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the next.
But the world's best left-hander bogeyed the last after a poor drive and overhit third, then did exactly the same when they went into sudden death.
Havret, whose one previous European Tour win in nearly 200 starts was at the 2001 Italian Open, was himself bunkered in two in the play-off, but he splashed out to within six feet of the flag and when he made the par putt was showered in champagne by fellow-Frenchmen, Thomas Levet and Raphael Jacquelin.
"It's just a dream - I can't say more," said Havret.
His three-under-par closing round of 68 was by no means the lowest of his career, but it was certainly the sweetest.
Havret beat a quality field to take the the trophy with a 14-under-par total of 270, while Mickelson, who was 25-1 ODDS-ON favourite with five holes to play, still moves up to World No. 2 ahead of Jim Furyk, but clearly has to work to do yet on his driving before he tries to deny Tiger Woods a hat-trick of Open crowns next weekend.
When Havret and Mickelson went into their play-off it still did not look an even contest. Havret had lost his one previous play-off on the circuit, while, in America, Mickelson's play-off record is an impressive seven wins and one defeat - to Jesper Parnevik seven years ago.
But Havret fully deserved his success and a week after the disappointment of losing out on an Open spot to Swede Pelle Edberg by virtue of a worse last round in the European Open after they had both finished third, he is into Europe's top 10 this season.
Could Gregory succeed at Carnoustie where Jean Van de Velde failed so famously eight years ago? Stranger things have happened ... as they did at Loch Lomond today.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4 x 71)
Players from GB&I unless stated.
270 G Havret (Fra) 68 64 70 68, P Mickelson (US) 65 68 68 69 (Havret won sudden-death play-off at first hole). Havret 738,255 Euros, Mickelson 492,165 Euros.
271 E Els (RSA) 69 66 71 65 (277,288 Euros).
273 L Donald 70 69 70 64, P Edberg (Swe) 67 68 72 66, L Oosthuisen (RSA) 70 71 64 68, R Sterne (RSA) 72 69 68 64 (174,302 Euros each).
274 S Webster 68 67 69 70, M Ilonen (Fin) 66 70 70 68, I Poulter 69 67 71 67.
275 G McDowell 70 71 67 67, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 67 74 69 65.
276 P Hanson (Swe) 72 67 69 68, R Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 68 73 66, P Archer 68 68 69 71, M Foster 66 74 71 65.
277 S Micheel (US) 67 71 70 69, A Tadini (Ita) 72 68 69 68.
278 R Fisher 69 69 69 71, S Hansen (Den) 65 73 71 69, A Cabrera (Arg) 71 70 70 67, D Clarke 71 67 74 66, J M Lara (Spa) 67 65 74 72, O Fisher 70 71 67 70, S Garcia (Spa) 71 65 71 71, R Finch 68 70 72 68, A Canizares (Spa) 72 67 68 71, L Westwood 65 74 70 69, I Garbutt 71 69 69 69
279 B Weekley (US) 68 66 74 71, B Dredge 68 72 72 67.
280 S Khan 67 67 75 71, J Randhawa (Ind) 71 69 70 70, P Broadhurst 71 70 71 68, R Jacquelin (Fra) 69 70 73 68
281 K Sullivan 70 69 73 69, P Hedblom (Swe) 69 70 70 72, A McLardy (Rsa) 71 68 75 67
282 A Marshall 70 71 70 71, M Tunnicliff 68 67 73 74, G Storm 65 72 72 73, T Levet (Fra) 70 67 73 72
283 J Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 67 71 73, P Sjoland (Swe) 68 71 71 73, P Price 71 67 74 71, I Garrido (Spa) 72 68 71 72, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 67 75 71, Peter Lawrie 68 73 71 71
284 G Houston 69 71 71 73, T Bjorn (Den) 69 70 73 72, P McGinley 68 70 74 72
285 S Walker 67 69 77 72, O Wilson 74 67 75 69, A Canete (Arg) 68 68 76 73
286 M Erlandsson (Swe) 72 69 72 73, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 73 68 73 72
287 Paul Lawrie 68 71 74 74, M Millar (Aus) 72 69 73 73, J Hepworth 71 70 73 73 (13,288 Euros each).
288 L Slattery 69 71 72 76, W Ormsby (Aus) 70 70 78 70, P O'Malley (Aus) 70 70 75 73.
290 J Backstrom (Swe) 72 68 78 72, D Drysdale 70 69 75 76 (10,852 Euros each).
291 A Romero (Arg) 67 67 80 77
292 M Mamat (Sin) 69 72 75 76

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