Ryder boost for Colsaerts with win in Match Play
Source: Agencies |
May 22, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BIG-HITTING Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts defied fierce winds and a battling Graeme McDowell to capture the World Match Play Championship in Spain on Sunday, boosting his chances of making Europe's Ryder Cup team.
Colsaerts won a painstakingly slow final 1 up in to claim his second European Tour title and earn a winner's check of 700,000 euros (US$900,000), taking him above 1 million euros in prize money for the second straight season.
McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion and seeking a first title since December of that year, bounced back after falling 1 down three times on the front nine but cut a frustrated figure on the long closing stretch with his errant iron play constantly letting him down.
Colsaerts established a two-hole lead after No. 16 and although his advantage was halved when he three-putted the next to indicate the pressure he was under, he parred the last to win one of the most prestigious titles on the calendar.
"I can't feel anything at the moment," he said.
"To have my name next to so many major winners is a dream come true."
The victory lifted Colsaerts into 10th place in the Ryder Cup points table, the last automatic spot for the European team, but perhaps more importantly demonstrated to team captain Jose Maria Olazabal his prowess at match play ahead of the September contest against the United States in Medinah near Chicago.
Colsaerts won a painstakingly slow final 1 up in to claim his second European Tour title and earn a winner's check of 700,000 euros (US$900,000), taking him above 1 million euros in prize money for the second straight season.
McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion and seeking a first title since December of that year, bounced back after falling 1 down three times on the front nine but cut a frustrated figure on the long closing stretch with his errant iron play constantly letting him down.
Colsaerts established a two-hole lead after No. 16 and although his advantage was halved when he three-putted the next to indicate the pressure he was under, he parred the last to win one of the most prestigious titles on the calendar.
"I can't feel anything at the moment," he said.
"To have my name next to so many major winners is a dream come true."
The victory lifted Colsaerts into 10th place in the Ryder Cup points table, the last automatic spot for the European team, but perhaps more importantly demonstrated to team captain Jose Maria Olazabal his prowess at match play ahead of the September contest against the United States in Medinah near Chicago.
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