Golf Johnnie Walker Classic: Six months ago it was the 16th at Royal St George's which did for Thomas Bjorn. Yesterday it was the 17th here at the Alpine Golf and Sports Club. The first of those holes cost the Dane the British Open championship; the second the Johnnie Walker Classic and its £166,660 first prize.
The money went instead to the 40-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez who, with a 17-under total of 271, won the tournament by two. In so doing the Spaniard, a Ryder Cup player in 1999, made a potent case for his reinstatement.
Having won the Majorca Classic at the end of last year, he now heads the European world ranking points list, whose top five, come the end of August, will make the team automatically.
Yet Jimenez had reason to be thankful to his playing partner, who clearly is not as imperturbable as his demeanour would imply. Bjorn led the tournament for the first three rounds but, after some roller-coaster moments, he was level with Jimenez on the par-five 17th tee.
As by far the bigger hitter he should have had the advantage but he wasted it with huge carve to the right, finding a lake which would not have been in play for many. He not only had to take a penalty drop, he had to do so in thick rough with the certainty of having a hanging lie.
Having done so he elected to go with a fairway wood, a high-risk shot which failed to pay off.
His ball finished behind a hoarding. Again he had to drop, this time for free but again into fluffy rough, and this time his wedge went under the ball and it finished on only the fringe of the green.
It was both a sad and a silly six and Jimenez took full advantage. After driving into the rough the Spaniard looked likely to take five himself but then hit a 20ft birdie putt which never looked like going in - until it did, by the back door.
Bjorn's wild drive at the 17th had been preceded by one exactly the same at the 14th, where he likewise had to take a penalty drop out of a lake.
The three Irish players taking part finished well down the field - with Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell finishing on 283, one shot better than Kilkenny's Gary Murphy, with Peter Lawrie one shot further back.
Ernie Els, the defending champion, had complained all week that the rhythm on which his swing depends was absent - and, by the time he found it, it was too late. He birdied the last five holes of the tournament to drag himself into ninth place.
India's Jyoti Randhawa provided great encouragement for Asian tour golf by getting round in 64 to finish joint second. One Thai, Thongchai Jaidee, finished fourth and another, Boonchu Ruangkit, had a closing 65.
