Spaniard sheds "bridesmaid" tag with all-the-way victory

MONTY JUST MAKES TOP 20
IN HONG KONG AS LARA
WINS FOR FIRST TIME

Colin Montgomerie finished joint 19th in the UBS Hong Kong Open which provided a long-awaited maiden title for Spaniard José Manuel Lara who led throughout for a 15-under-par total of 265.
If there was to be a Spanish winner, the expectation was that it would be the Hacienda del Alamo (director of golf Billy Sim) Golf Resort tour pro, Miguel Angel Jimenez but he finished joint sixth on 269.
Four times Lara has finished runner-up on the European Tour but he shed the bridesmaid tag by winning in the most impressive fashion.
Jeev Milkha Singh, the Indian who played in the Doug Sanders world boys championship at Aberdeen a couple of years in succession, came joint third on 268.
That was good enough to seal the Asian Tour UBS Order of Merit for Singh before the season’s finale next month.
Lara becomes the third Spaniard to win the UBS Hong Kong Open title after José Maria Olazábal and Miguel Angel Jiménez and as the winning putt dropped Jiménez stepped forward to be the first to offer his congratulations.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS

265 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 64 66 66 69.
266 Juvic Pagunsan (PHI) 67 65 66 68.
268 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 66 67 69 66, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 64-69-69-66, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68 66 67 67.
269 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 68 65 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 67 66 68.
270 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 69 67 66, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 69 63 67, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 68 67 67 68.
Other scores:
272 Andrew Buckle (Aus) 67 65 72 68.
272 Andrew Buckle (Aus) 67 65 72 68.
274 Simon Khan (Eng) 66 68 68 72.
275 Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 69 66 70 70.