In-form Fisher casts Kim aside
The Englishman blew chances to win the US Open and the British Open this year but showed no signs of wobbling as he outclassed the US Ryder Cup star to claim a 4 & 3 victory in the 36-hole final at Finca Cortesin.
Drained after playing 126 holes en route to his third tour win, Fisher said: “I’m ecstatic. It’s been a long gruelling week but it’s been worthwhile.”
The former Wentworth apprentice – without a win since the 2008 European Open – landed a cheque for €750,000 with a wire-to-wire demolition of the brash American.
Fisher topped a group featuring Lee Westwood, Camilo Villegas and Jeev Milkha Singh and eventually saw off Masters champion Angel Cabrera at the 39th in the semi-finals.
But he was even happier after his massive win over Kim in which he birdied the first to take the lead and never trailed after that.
Determined to push on now after the biggest win of his career, he said: “What happened in the majors still stings a little bit. I led all four at one point and could quite easily have won three majors if things had gone my way. If it was meant to be it would have happened.”
Kim, 24, would have replaced Seve Ballesteros as the youngest winner of the title but failed to sparkle on the greens and made too many mistakes against Fisher who was one up after a bogey-free morning round.
The English star drove the short 22nd and holed a 40 footer for an eagle two to go two up and then took advantage of a wild drive by Kim at the 23rd to two putt for a winning birdie and move three holes clear.
Kim cut the gap with a birdie at the 24th, but he three-putted the 25th and 26th for halves and then lost the 28th and 32nd to kiss the title goodbye.
Kim said: “Ross played great. I made a couple of mistakes – I felt like I gave him one on the eighth and I gave him one on the seventh. Really that was the turning point there. It was an up and down battle all day.”
Robert Allenby beat Angel Cabrera by holing an 18-footer for an eagle at the first extra hole of their 18-hole consolation match to claim third.
The Australian, who had a hole in one at the sixth, was 10 under par for 19 holes played, earning €250,000.
Cabrera picked up €200,000 but confirmed that he will not be competing in this week’s HSBC Champions in Shanghai and therefore cannot qualify for the Dubai World Championship.
Despite moving to eighth in the Race to Dubai, he will be removed from the money list because he can’t play the mandatory 12 events. That means Ireland’s Gary Murphy, who slipped to 126th in the list will move one place closer to the top 115 who keep their cards at the end of the season.
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