Cool Khan takes route 66 to glory
But for much of a blisteringly hot afternoon at Wentworth yesterday, it seemed nobody wanted to leave with the spoils.
The lead changed hands numerous times, not because anyone was shooting the lights out as Sweden’s Robert Karlsson had done with an amazing round of 62 on Saturday, but because they were all making mistakes under pressure as the innate difficulty of the new-look Burma Road took its toll.
In the end, the money, the points and the glory rested with 38-year-old Simon Khan, who only got into the tournament as a last minute reserve on Monday. He became the first invitee to win the PGA and making up the seven shot deficit on Chris Wood is also the biggest final day comeback of the 2010 season. It was the Arsenal fan’s second European Tour victory after the 2004 Welsh Open and was especially sweet as he lost his Tour card in 2009 before claiming it back by winning the Tour School in November.
His prize money for the year has soared to €787,927 making him a serious candidate for a Ryder Cup debut in October and a challenger for the Tour’s Race to Dubai order of merit title.
When informed Khan had won, Pádraig Harrington’s wife Caroline immediately commented: “I’m delighted because it couldn’t have happened to a nicer fellow.”
And that was the widely held view around Wentworth last night.
Khan shot a marvellous final round of 66 to win by a shot from another fast finisher, Fredrik Andersson Hed of Sweden, recent winner of the Italian Open, and England’s Luke Donald. Donald had the title in his grasp when he stood six under with the par five 17th and 18th still to play. Untypically of one of the straightest hitters in the game, he carved his drive deep into the woods on the right and ended up with a seven.
Khan, of course, was ecstatic for apart at all from the points and money, he now has a five year exemption on Tour and won’t need to qualify for any of the next three British Opens.
“This week just mean everything,” he commented. “This tournament is the reason I started playing golf. Just to be here was unbelievable and I’ve always loved the course and the way I see the shots. The new set-up places a premium on accuracy and that is sort of my strength.”
Disappointingly, the two Irish front runners, Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell, failed to deliver on a day when a wind swirled through the towering Wentworth trees and made club selection a nightmare.
Harrington said: “I don’t know how many times I pulled off my shot as the wind changed just as I prepared to play. There is no doubt that I had my chances. I looked at the scoreboards as I went around and thought I could still win. I had my chances towards the end of Saturday’s round but didn’t take them and it was much of the same Sunday.
“I hit lovely shots into the 15th and 17th but each time missed from eight feet. I hit a good drive up the last and decided to go for the green with a five wood from 242 yards. I knocked it to about 25 feet and hit another good putt but it slid by. I’m glad I came back here after missing for two years and it will be a better course again next year when the greens firm up and the whole place settles down.”
Harrington does a company day in London today before flying back to Dublin for keyhole surgery on his right knee in the Blackrock Clinic tomorrow morning. He insists he is not worried about the consequences of such a procedure and expects to be in the gym on Wednesday morning. He takes a family holiday next week before playing two tournaments in the States before the US Open at Pebble Beach in mid-June.
McDowell went into the final round on two under par, four off the pace, and aware that a top 20 finish would keep him in the world’s top 20 which in turn would mean an automatic appearance in both the US and British Open Championships. He was awaiting news of the revised rankings this morning before deciding whether or not to tackle the US qualifier at Walton Heath today.
“It definitely was frustrating to look up at the scoreboards and see that six under was leading,” said McDowell. “I could easily have been up there after getting to four under with birdies at the 2nd and 4th but everything that could go wrong, went wrong after.”
He ran up a disastrous seven bogeys in ten holes from the 7th only to redeem himself to some extent with an unlikely eagle at the 17th. He followed a big drive with “an over hooked three wood” that ended up close to the green and from there he trickled in a little chip for his three. He also had an escape at the 18th where he put his second in water but a superb wedge approach to five feet salvaged a par five.
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