Peter Hansen’s Czech Open win leaves Montgomerie with selection headache
Peter Hansen threw a huge spanner in Colin Montgomerie’s works for the Ryder Cup yesterday as his win in the Czech Open means Montgomerie will now have to leave out one of Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Justin Rose when he names his three Ryder Cup wildcards on Sunday.
The four big-name players’ decision to play in the Barclays Open in New Jersey this week rather than at the Johnnie Walker Championships at Gleneagles looks to be one that they could come to regret, as none of them can improve their position on the Ryder Cup points list.
Hansen, who looked to be cruising to the title going into the final round courtesy of a four-shot lead, got off to a horrendous start to the final day, making three successive bogeys on the front nine and scrambling an ugly double-bogey on the 12th. Peter Lawrie shot out of the chasing pack to join Hansen at the top of the leaderboard, as did Englishman Gary Boyd. But Hansen managed to regroup turning for home and made a much-welcome birdie on the 16th before keeping his nerve down the last two to secure a play-off with Lawrie and Boyd, all who finished on 10-under-par.
All three players parred the first two play-off holes as they continued to play the 18th, but it was Hansen whose class eventually shone through, as he holed a miraculous 30-foot putt to take victory.
The win for the Swede means he has overtaken Casey in the automatic selection places for the Ryder Cup, and he will now, barring a miracle result at Gleneagles next weekend (like a Simon Dyson, Ross McGowan one-two), will take his place at Celtic Manor. The win also means that Francesco Molinari and Ross Fisher have booked their seats on the coach to Wales.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez currently occupies the final automatic spot following his solid performance at the Prosper Resort, but his place is far from guaranteed, however he has re-thought his decision to miss Gleneagles and will be looking for a high finish to sustain his place.
If Jiménez under-performs though, the door for McGowan, Dyson or Alvaro Quiros to play themselves into contention remains very much open.
Dyson and Quiros must win next Sunday while McGowan requires a top-two finish.
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