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By Mark Garrod Special to PA SportsTicker
VILAMOURA, Portugal (Ticker) - Two years after Ernie Els told him "once
you win one you will win a few", England's Steve Webster finally
grabbed an emotional second European Tour victory on Sunday.
When the win came the 32-year-old achieved it in glorious style, then
collapsed into tears and sent a kiss to the skies. His mother Val died
of cancer five months ago.
Webster, out for a month recently with back trouble, shot a closing
8-under-par 64 in the Portugal Masters at the Victoria Club. He
finished at 25-under 263 overall.
The Nuneaton golfer, who finished three ahead of Ryder Cup Swede Robert
Karlsson and six clear of the rest of the field, did not drop a stroke
on the final day until the tournament was in the bag.
"I was thinking about her all the way round," said Webster after
hugging his father Terry by the green. "Losing my mum really knocked me
about. I didn't even think I'd get my card because it was quite tough.
"It was so hard to keep my mind on my golf. I knew she was watching out
for me and it's an amazing feeling to play that well down the stretch."
His one previous victory in the 2005 Italian Open came 10 years after
he beat Tiger Woods to be leading amateur in The Open at St Andrews.
The second has come in his 308th event.
One behind Argentina's Daniel Vancsik at the start of the day, Webster
went into the joint lead with an outward 32, then took command with a
nine-foot eagle putt on the 547-yard 12th.
Adding three more birdies in the next five holes gave him the chance to
equal the second lowest total in relation to par in Tour history.
But instead of trying for another birdie he wisely chose to avoid the
water down the left, knowing a bogey would be good enough for a title
that meant so much. His 64 was still the lowest closing round by a
winner all year. Karlsson shot 65 himself, while joint third on 19
under were Lee Westwood, Vancsik and two more Swedes, Peter Hanson and
Fredrik Andersson Hed.
Justin Rose, meanwhile, slipped from 18th to joint 21st with a closing
70 - and so not only failed to achieve the top-two finish he required
to go above Ernie Els at the top of the Order of Merit, but also did
not quite do enough to overtake Padraig Harrington in second place.
The importance of that is this; with Els not playing in the
season-ending Volvo Masters the week after next the pair will both go
there needing to finish in a two-way tie for third spot at worst, but
Rose will have to beat Harrington as well rather than the other way
round.
"I've closed the gap," said Rose, choosing to look on the bright side on what was his lowest European Tour finish of the year.
"At the end of the day it was going to be a top three here or there -
it does not matter which one. That's the way it's boiling down. I'm
looking forward to getting to Valderrama. I prefer it when the courses
are tough rather than 20 under or something."
For the second week running Rose could also have made it into the
world's top 10 for the first time. He would have got there by reaching
the semi-finals of the World Match Play at Wentworth last Sunday, but
was knocked out in the first round by American Hunter Mahan, and a
top-two finish today would have done it.
The Order of Merit race has now come down to five players - Els, Harrington, Rose and Swedes Niclas Fasth and Henrik Stenson.
With prizemoney at Valderrama twice what it is in the Majorca Classic
starting on Thursday, only Fasth is playing this week's event. He is
the defending champion, but even if he was to win again it would still
leave him needing to finish first or second the following Sunday.
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