Pierre Fulke conjured up a career-best shot at Montecastillo Hotel and Golf Resort to capture his second European Tour title of the year. Appropriately, in a tournament sponsored to the tune of £2 million by a Swedish car manufacturer, it was a golfer from that country who landed the Volvo Masters.
Fulke, 29, became the first Swede to land the title after leading virtually from the gun on Thursday, shooting rounds of 67, 68, 70 and 67 for a 16 under par total of 272. In winning the 575,654 euro (£333,330) first prize, Fulke leapt from 31st to 12th in the Volvo Order of Merit and to first place in the Ryder Cup points table.
In addition, he earned a prestigious spot in the WGC-American Express Championship at Valderrama later this week, when the Volvo Order of Merit race will go down to the final putt of the last tournament of the season.
And as the season reaches a tumultuous climax on Spain’s Costa del Sol, no fewer than half a dozen players can still theoretically clinch the money title. Darren Clarke now leads the way after coming agonisingly close to retaining the Volvo Masters title he won in 1998.
The Irishman finished runner-up to Fulke after a tremendous contest down the stretch, when the Swede’s superb eagle three at the 16th – coming after his 196 metre five wood approach - brought him level with Clarke with two holes to play. Clarke then bogeyed the 17th after a pulled drive and Fulke kept his composure to make two solid pars to win.
Clarke has 2,652,664 euro (£1,536,013) to his name while Lee Westwood, who closed with a pair of 65s after a disappointing start to share third with Michael Campbell on 275, 13 under par, lies second with 2,544,695 euro (£1,473,494). Ernie Els, Thomas Björn, Campbell and Colin Montgomerie (ninth at Montecastillo) can all still catch and overtake Clarke due to the first prize of 1,160,901 euro (£690,417) available at Valderrama.
Fulke, though, was the master at Montecastillo. Clarke had led by a stroke with four holes to play and admitted he thought his 68 would have been enough to give him the title and a substantial lead in the Volvo Order of Merit chase. However he had no reckoned with Swedish courage.
Clarke said: “Pierre played great down the stretch. He didn’t make any mistakes and was very impressive. He deserved to win after the way he played those intimidating holes towards the finish.”
Fulke, who missed the first five months of the season after suffering a wrist injury, won the Scottish PGA Championship in August and underlined that form at Montecastillo with a series of tremendous shots.
None was better than his shot to the 16th when under the cosh. He explained: “The five wood was one of the best shots of my life. I had 196 metres to the pin and as I walked down the fairway I thought it was a three wood. However it seemed to be a cross wind and I grabbed the five wood and aimed 20 feet left of the pin. That’s where I hit it, it pitched perfectly and I holed the eagle putt from 25 feet.”
Westwood, who had opened with a 76, showed he can never be discounted by shooting 14 under par over the weekend, while Campbell equalled the course record of 63 set by Per-Ulrik Johansson and matched by Clarke in the final round two years ago.
Argentinian Angel Cabrera closed with a 68 to share fifth place with Spain’s José Maria Olazábal (68) on 276. Both will be involved at Valderrama later this week, but all eyes will inevitably be on the leading six players who still have everything to play for.
