Broadhurst wins in bizarre circumstances
IN: News | European PGA | Portugal Open (2005) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 04 Apr 2005
In what must rank as one of the more bizarre finishes to a European tour event in many years, England's Paul Broadhurst was the last man standing when the Estoril Open de Portugal was finally decided today.
Broadhurst had not won on the European Tour since his win at the French Open in 1995 and it did not appear if that was likely to change today with two holes to go in the event.
Broadhurst bogeyed the last hole to slip back to 13 under and at that point was one shot back of Barry Lane who had just bogeyed the 17th and one ahead of Paul Lawrie who had just triple bogeyed the 17th. All Lane needed was a par at the last to win or, at worst, a bogey to force the playoff.
For Lane, this would be a significant milestone should he be able to get across the line. He had won last year at the British Masters but over the last ten years the triumphs have been few and far between. The Accenture World Championship in 1995 had been his last win prior to 2004 and now thanks to the demise of Lawrie it appeared that yet another victory was his for the taking.
Lane only had the par four 18th hole to play but as had been shown all week, the closing holes at the Arthur Hills designed, Oitavos Golfe, had been extremely demanding and today would be no exception. Lane drove it left and then when trying to extricate himself from more bushes with his third shot he hit the root of a tree and flew out of bounds. The end result was a quintuple bogey 9 which saw him fall back to nine under and ultimately in 5th place.
While it would be a bit harsh to describe it as a win by default for Broadhurst, it was likely a victory he was least expecting thirty minutes earlier.
Lawrie somehow managed to recover to par the last and save second place. Jose Filipe Lima rewarded the local fans with a birdie at the last to snatch third place from South African Richard Sterne, who produced a final round 66. The faltering Lane finished in fifth place.
It had been a week disrupted by cold wet weather and with so many of the leading players away preparing for Augusta, the event provided the opportunity which was taken gladly by the 39-year-old Broadhurst. In three starts this year until now, his best had been 49th.
In a rather unusual occurrence in modern day golf at this level, one shot split each of the first seven placegetters.
The only Australasian to make the cut was Stephen Scahill who recorded his best European Tour finish since his third placing at the Benson & Hedges in 2003 when 8th.
The European Tour now heads to Madeira Island off the coast of North Africa but a Portugese territory for the Madeira Island Open.
