José Maria Olazábal collected his 23rd title on The European Tour International Schedule – and his first for almost four years - when he cruised to a comfortable victory at Pula Golf Club on Sunday, and thereby extending the Spanish dominance of the Mallorca Classic.
The 39 year old two-time Masters Champion, one shot ahead overnight, charged four clear with a superb front nine of 31, stretched that to six after 11 holes and ended up scooping the €250,000 first prize by five shots for his first European Tour success since the Omega Hong Kong Open in December 2001.
Olazábal, who took added satisfaction in the win from the fact he is in the process of redesigning the Pula course, finished with a round of 66 for a 10 under par, four round aggregate of 270.
In second place on 275 were England’s Paul Broadhurst, whose level par final round of 70 cost him the chance of a second win of the season, 2004 Mallorca Classic champion Sergio Garcia and another Spaniard José Manuel Lara.
It was the fifth Spanish victory on the 2005 European Tour International Schedule, following Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (The KLM Open), Garcia (Omega Hong Kong Open) and Miguel Angel Jiménez (Omega Hong Kong Open and The Celtic Manor Wales Open), and the third in the Mallorca Classic after Jiménez capitalised on Olazábal’s late collapse to triumph in 2003 and Garcia won last year.
The victory moved Olazábal into fourth place on The European Ryder Cup Points List and he said: "It is a very special victory and the last three holes were very emotional. I am very happy because it happened on a course I’ve been involved with.
“I’ve been climbing the world rankings again by working hard and this is the result. I’m moving in the right direction. It would be nice to get back into the (Ryder Cup) team."
But while Olazábal was moving past €10 million in European Tour Official Career Earnings, further down the field a number of players were embroiled in a nervous battle to keep their cards for next year by breaking into the top 116 on The European Tour Order of Merit.
Spaniard Miguel Angel Martin rose to the challenge by producing his best round of the week, a 68, to finish in a share of 27th place on one over par 281, which earned him enough money to move from 117th place on the Order of Merit to 112th.
But the most fortunate player was England’s Sam Little who, despite closing with a two over par 72, managed to sneak into 116th place courtesy of finishing tied 21st on level par.
“I reckoned with five to play I needed two or three birdies. In the event five pars did it,” said Little. He retained his card by just €586 and had he not saved par from a bunker at the last he would have been heading for the Qualifying School.
Little and Martin replace Scotland’s David Drysdale and Gregory Bourdy of France, who started the week 115th and 116th on the Order of Merit but both missed the halfway cut in Mallorca.
Marcus Fraser of Australia improved his Order of Merit position from 111th place to 108th after closing with a 68 to tie for 21st place, but there were contrasting emotions for Mattias Eliasson. The Swede started the final day in fourth place – a position that would have seen him keep his card – but eventually finished tied eighth after a one over par 71, his worse round of the week.
Meanwhile, Andrew Coltart enjoyed the honour of shooting the lowest round of the week, a seven under par 63 which he described as “a lovely way to put the season to bed”.
The Scotsman, who finished two under and has not qualified for the Volvo Masters, turned in 29 and when he birdied the 10th and 11th as well to go eight under, something really special loomed. But he played the last seven holes in one over.
The score does not count as a course record because placing of the ball was allowed all week on the wet fairways.
“It’s my best round for a long, long time, but it’s such a fine line,” he added. “I played lovely last week and missed the cut. Finally I have got a score to show for how well I’ve been playing for a while.”
