FUERTEVENTURA, Spain, 26 April 2004 — Frenchman Christian Cevaer twice pitched in for eagle twos in the Canaries Spanish Open final round yesterday on his way to claiming his maiden European Tour title. A closing one-under-par 69 for nine-under-par 271 was a stroke better than Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez, who just fell short of back-to-back victories after winning last week’s Seville Open, Britain’s David Park, the leader for three rounds, and Swede Peter Hedblom.
Four Share Lead at Rain-Plagued Houston Open
The weather showed few signs of easing, nor did the logjam at the top of the leaderboard at the Houston Open. Patrick Sheehan birdied the first hole to forge a four-way tie for the lead before third-round play was suspended at the five million-dollar PGA Tour event.
Sheehan played just one hole at the Redstone Golf Club before play was halted due to darkness. It was delayed more than seven hours at the start of the day — when the second round had still to be completed from Friday — due to rain. That meant that twilight was falling when co-leaders Steve Lowery, Steve Stricker and rookie Zach Johnson teed off.
“That’s kind of what I thought was going to happen,” Stricker said. “I thought we’d maybe play or a hole or two and be done.”
Play was scheduled to resume the next morning, but the course was hit with another heavy shower Saturday night.
Officials hoped to begin the fourth round between noon and 2 p.m.
The leaders are tied at five-under-par, one shot ahead of seven golfers, including 2002 champion Vijay Singh of Fiji. Like Sheehan, the world’s second-ranked player got in just one hole in his third round. Another nine players are two shots off the pace, including former British Open champion and Dallas native Justin Leonard.
Defending champion Fred Couples, barely made the cut and is seven strokes back at 2-over.
