Italian dynamo Canonica wins first European Tour event
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2005 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles | Wrap | 08 Aug 2005
He might only be just over five feet tall but 34-year-old Emanuele Canonica packs a powerful punch. A regular amongst the leading players in driving distance stats on the European Tour, the balance of his game has not always matched his prodigious achievements from the tee but with his first win now behind him, Canonica’s golfing career could well be about to take a big leap forward.
The Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles provided that win for the Italian and not only will the victory prove a big moment in the golfing life of Canonica but also for Italian golf. Italian golf has not exactly matched the improvement that much of the rest of Continental Europe has shown over the last few years. For many years Constantino Rocca was their flag bearer but his star has waned in recent years and there hasn’t exactly been a long line of Italians waiting in the wings to take up the mantle of their leading golfer.
Canonica has often hinted that he could be the man to take Italian men’s golf forward, more especially in his best season in 2000 when he had two great weeks in Germany including a runner up at the Deutsche Bank Championship behind Lee Westwood that year. Since that time there has been the occasional good week but he has lacked the consistency to be a serious contender in Europe on a regular basis. He even reached the point eighteen months ago where he was thinking of giving the game away but that is now all behind him. Even this season he has struggled for much of the year although in an inspirational performance at his own National Open in May he was 5th and just two weeks ago was 14th at the Deutsche Bank Players Championship.
By the time he made the turn today though, he had taken the lead and although he was feeling the pinch over the closing nine as he faced the prospect of his first European Tour victory, he had enough in reserve to get the job done. He kept his driver in the bag as much as possible today relying on his length with irons from the tee where many were hitting drivers on the demanding Nicklaus designed layout.
Bradley Dredge continued his run of near misses when he finished in a share of second with Nicolas Colsaerts, David Lynn and Barry Lane. Dredge has been 5th, 3rd and 2nd in his last three starts.
The best of the Australians was Wade Ormsby who recorded his equal best European Tour finish when 6th and he earns his biggest cheque (€65,000) in professional golf. South Australian Ormsby, who played collegiate golf at the University of Houston, continues to improve and he has further consolidated his position on the European Tour, this finish moving him to 67th on the money list in 2005.
Peter Fowler was 37th, Terry Price and Jarrod Moseley 42nd and Richard Green 62nd. Green heads back across the Atlantic for the PGA Championship.
The European Tour now heads to the PGA Championship in the US and for those not eligible, the BMW Russian Open in Moscow.
