Wales Open win for Sterne
Brad Morgan
5 June 2007
South Africa's golfing success story continued at the weekend as Richard Sterne won the Wales Open at Celtic Manor. The victory lifted Sterne to 35th in the world rankings, giving South Africa five players in the top 35, including four in the top 15.
The win also earned Sterne a place in next month's British Open at Carnoustie, thanks to his move up the official world golf rankings. And there was, of course, the not so small matter of the winner's cheque of £250 000.
The key to his success was producing the big shots when it counted; he birdied four of the final five holes to card a final round five-under-par 65 for a four-round total of 13-under 263, made up of rounds of 67, 67, 64, and 65.
Quite a comeback
It was quite a comeback after he began the round with three bogeys in the first six holes. However, an inward nine of 29 did the trick, including the much-needed birdie on the final hole.
He said:
"I knew I had to birdie the eighteenth and it is not often when you know you have to do something that you do it. So it is nice when you do do it."
While Sterne birdied the final hole, home favourite Bradley Dredge, attempting to become the first Welshman to win his national title, bogeyed the eighteenth to fall one shot adrift of the South African.
Dredge had pulled himself within sight of victory by rolling in birdies on fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, but he missed a six-foot putt for par to narrowly come up short.
Four-way tie for second
As a result of that drop, Dredge ended in a four-way tie for second, along with Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen and Mads Vibe-Hastrup, and Singapore's Mardan Mamat.
A little way down the leaderboard, 47-year-old David Frost enjoyed a solid outing, turning in rounds of 68, 64, 67, and 67 to finish on 10-under-par 266, only three shots behind Sterne.
Anton Haig paid the penalty for a poor
four-over-par second round as he ended on three-under for the tournament, while James Kingston ended on one-over 277.
Darren Fichardt missed the cut, as did Retief Goosen, who has been struggling with his form recently, which has resulted in him slipping outside of the top 10 in the world rankings.
There was a quick pick-me-up for Fichardt on Monday, however, as he booked his place at the US Open by finishing top of qualifying at Walton Heath, alongside Nick Dougherty and Peter Hanson.
Second European Tour win
Sterne's win at Celtic Manor was his second on the European Tour, following his maiden victory in the Madrid Open in 2004.
His Wales Open win followed on a good outing at the BMW PGA Championship the week before, where he finished tied for third, just one shot behind Anders Hansen and Justin Rose, who captured the title after a playoff.
Sterne's good form is a reflection of a consistently good season which has also
included a tie for second in the Johnnie Walker Classic and fifth at the Volvo China Open and the BMW Asian Open. In fact, Sterne has finished lower than fifth only once in his last six tournaments.
Order of Merit
That consistency has propelled him to fourth on the European Tour Order of Merit. Henrik Stenson leads the way, with Qatar Masters winner Retief Goosen in second, and Justin Rose in third.
Other South Africans feature strongly on the Order of Merit. South African Airways Open winner Ernie Els is in eighth place, Spanish Open winner Charl Schwartzel in eleventh, Trevor Immelman in fourteenth, and Johnnie Walker Classic champion Anton Haig in twenty-third.
Andrew McLardy, Louis Oosthuizen, David Frost, and Hennie Otto are all ranked within the top 100.
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