Another French victory after Euro Masters late drama

McIlroy lets first Euro Tour
victory slip in play-off

All-the-way leader Rory McIlroy lost the Omega European Masters in Switzerland in devastating fashion today.
After missing a five-foot putt to win in regulation play the 19-year-old Northern Irishman, trying to become the third-youngest winner in European Tour history, then missed again from only about 18 inches at the second play-off hole.
It left France's Jean-Francois Lucquin with two putts to win from 12 feet, but he needed only one of them for his first Tour victory in 175 attempts.
McIlroy started the final day four clear, but after bogeys on the second and third suddenly found himself one behind.
At one point he was down to fourth, but back he came and a 20-foot birdie putt on the long 15th took him into the lead again. After pars on the next two he went over the back of the final green, chipped five feet past and missed it.
Lucquin said: "I have no words to explain what I am feeling. I don't know what happened (to McIlroy) on the second.
"He asked if he could finish, I said that was okay and he missed it. That made it easier for me."
It was the second French success in a row after Gregory Havret's win at last week's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. The country's two previous successes this season, by Thomas Levet and Gregory Bourdy, also came back-to-back in Spain and Portugal.
Lucquin was sprayed with champagne by compatriots, his young son Alex looking positively scared as the celebrations began.
"When I saw my wife and little boy it was a dream," he added. For McIlroy, though, it was a nightmare.
After missing a five-foot putt to win in regulation play the 19-year-old Northern Irishman, trying to become the third-youngest winner in European Tour history, then missed again from only about 18 inches at the second play-off hole.
It left France's Jean-Francois Lucquin with two putts to win from 12 feet, but he needed only one of them for his first Tour victory in 175 attempts.
McIlroy started the final day four clear, but after bogeys on the second and third suddenly found himself one behind.
At one point he was down to fourth position, but back he came and a 20-foot birdie putt on the long 15th took him into the lead again.
After pars on the next two he went over the back of the final green, chipped five feet past and missed it. Worse was to come, though.
Gary Orr, who has played better than any Scot over the past month or two on the Euro Tour, finished joint third, only one shot off being involved in the play-off. Orr shot three 67s and a 71 in the second round for a 12-under-par total of 272.
The only other Scot who made the halfway cut, former Tartan Tour player Craig Lee, finished last of the qualifiers on 291.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4 x 71)
271 Rory McIlroy 63 71 66 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 67 69 67 (Lucquin won play-off at second extra hole)
272 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 68 71 65 68, Gary Orr 67 71 67 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 69 68 67, Julien Clement (Swi) 69 68 67 68
273 Juan Abbate (Arg) 68 67 69 69, Robert Dinwiddie 76 64 64 69, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 69 70 66 68, Ross McGowan 67 73 66 67
274 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 70 69 66, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 68 69 70, Julio Zapata (Arg) 66 72 67 69
275 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 69 71 65, Barry Lane 71 70 65 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 70 68 68
276 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 68 71 68, Mark Foster 72 66 68 70
277 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 73 68 70 66, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 72 68 67
278 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 68 71 75 64, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 71 68 69
279 David Griffiths 70 69 68 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 71 68 71, Peter Lawrie 67 69 72 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 70 70 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 67 72 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 67 67 73 72, Robert Rock 72 68 70 69, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 69 66 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 73 72 66
280 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 67 70 70 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 72 66 72, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 71 71 67 71, Paul Waring 71 71 66 72, Peter Baker 70 70 69 71, Simon Dyson 69 67 72 72, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 72 71 67, Andrew Marshall 70 70 71 69, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 70 68 75, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 72 70 65 73
281 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 67 72 74 68, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 71 69 71
282 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 68 72 71 71, Scott Barr (Aus) 69 68 76 69, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 71 71 71 69
283 Garry Houston 66 73 70 74, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 66 70 76, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 70 70 71, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 71 71 70 71, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 69 72 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 68 72 72, Tom Whitehouse 72 68 68 75, Miles Tunnicliff 71 69 71 72
284 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 69 73 72 70, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 66 71 76, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 72 67 75, Bradley Dredge 69 70 72 73
285 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 69 68 73 75, Steve Alker (Nzl) 71 70 71 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 69 72 70 74, Florian Praegant (Aut) 72 70 73 70, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 71 68 75 71
286 Matthew Millar (Aus) 70 72 70 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 69 70 74
287 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 70 76 72, Francis Valera (Spa) 73 67 77 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 69 74 73, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 71 69 76 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 74 68 74 71
289 Simon Griffiths 76 66 71 76
290 Ken Benz (Swi) 68 74 73 75, Pablo Martin (Spa) 71 71 74 74
291 Craig Lee 73 69 74 75