Tunnicliffe goes wire to wire at Diageo Championship
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2004 The Diageo Championship at Gleneagles | Wrap | 14 Jun 2004
From the moment he jumped out of the blocks on Thursday to lead at four under after nine holes of the first round of the Diageo Championship, Miles Tunnicliffe never looked back, leading from that point on, apart from a brief period on day two where Graeme McDowell held the lead. He adopted an almost “catch me if you can” policy as he took large leads into rounds three and four.
Tunnicliffe has only won the one event on the European Tour, the Great North Open in 2002, and his recent form never gave any indication that a win, let alone such a convincing one, was likely. He played well at the start of the year in South Africa and Thailand but apart from a top ten in a weak Spanish Open field over a month ago, there has been little to get excited about.
The 35-year-old who makes his home in Spain has played the European Tour on an irregular basis since first gaining his full card back in 1996. He had taken many attempts to get his card and played well in his first season but struggled from that point on to retain his playing privileges. In 2002 he won the Great North Open turning his career around and since then he has safely kept playing privileges and been a permanent fixture on the tour.
His win this week by five over Graeme McDowell was produced under tough conditions, with strong winds prevailing most of the week at Gleneagles. Any hope the chasers had of a last round collapse by Tunnicliffe were soon dispelled on day four when he opened with two birdies and never gave a shot back in the run to the line.
McDowell rallied in the middle of his final round with five consecutive birdies to slip ahead of a group of players and take the second place cheque. McDowell won the Italian Open earlier this season and continues to confirm the promise he showed by winning so early in his career at the Volvo Scandanavian Masters.
Rookie Steve O’Hara recorded the best finish of his brief European Tour career when he shared third with Australian Nick O’Hern who, for the second week in a row, has produced a top five finish. O’Hara gained his card by finishing 13th at last year’s tour school.
For O’Hern, the elusive win must be getting closer. This was his fifth top ten this season and his first win outside of Australia must surely be close at hand.
Richard Green and Peter O’Malley were 10th, Terry Price 37th, Marcus Fraser and Stephen Scahill 42nd, Brett Rumford 61st and Daniel Gaunt 63rd.
The European Tour now heads to France for the Aa St Omer Classic, co sanctioned by both the Challenge and European Tours.
