Dredge waltzes to victory at European Masters
IN: News | European PGA | Omega European Masters (2006) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 11 Sep 2006
Bradley Dredge won just his second European Tour title by taking out the Omega European Masters in Crans Sur Sierre in Switzerland overnight and not only did he win, he blitzed the field high in the Swiss Alps.
"I'm over the moon," said Dredge on receiving his trophy. It was perhaps ironic that he was presented his trophy by the last man to stand on the moon, Eugene Cernan.
Dredge's eight shot victory over Francesco Molinari and Marcel Siem was one of the largest winning margins in recent times on the European Tour. In 2002 Adam Scott won the Diageo Scottish PGA Championship by ten shots.
Dredge had been throwing out signals earlier in the season that a second win to follow up his 2003 Madeira Island Open victory was perhaps not too far away although in recent weeks his form had dropped off. Last week in Germany he found his game again after an indifferent month and with several good rounds on this course previously there was hope for this week. Not even in Dredge's wildest dreams could he have imagined such an emphatic victory.
Leading into the final day by just two shots, Dredge made a dream start with three consecutive birdies, to get his round underway. He added two further to start his back nine and he was allowed the luxury of a late bogey and an absolute stroll to the finish.
The fight for the minor placings became the focus of attention as Francesco Molinari put together a fine last round to catch Marcel Siem and share the runner up placing with the German. A double bogey at the par five 15th would prove costly for the Italian Open winner as he missed an outright second placing but Siem too had his problems as he struggled to a final round 73. Defending champion Sergio Garcia was perhaps a little disappointed not to finish closer than his share of fourth with Marc Warren and Soren Kjeldsen but it was a performance good enough to have him heading for the Ryder Cup in eleven days with his game in reasonable shape.
The talk of the week was the rather miserable effort of Michelle Wie, who finished a lonely last after thirty six holes. That was no real shock however the greater surprise perhaps this week is that she is teeing it up at the 84 Lumber on the US PGA Tour. I guess if were all given the choice at the age of 16 to either spend a week in class in Hawaii or play some of the exotic golfing locations in the world for a significant appearance fee then it is likely we would choose the latter.
The novelty is now starting to wear thin and another similar effort in Pennsylvania will begin to place serious question marks on the relative merits of these invites. There is little doubt of Wie's outstanding talent and that she has brought attention to the event but where do we go from here?
Of the Australians there was not a lot of joy, Wade Ormsby was best in 33rd place, David Bransdon will rue his last round of 77 to finish 40th, while Matthew Millar and Brett Rumford were 44th.
The European Tour is at the HSBC World Match Play at Wentworth and at the XXXII Banco Madrid Valle Romano Open de Madrid Golf Masters this coming week before the Ryder Cup takes the focus of the golfing world on September 22nd.
