PULA, 24 October 2005 — Jose Maria Olazabal claimed his first victory since the 2002 Buick Invitational when he romped to a five-shot win at the Majorca Classic yesterday.
Starting the day one ahead at the Pula course he has been re-designing, the 39-year-old Spaniard ran away from the field with four birdies in six holes from the fourth and eventually finished with a four-under 66 for a 10-under total of 270.
Holder Sergio Garcia, fellow Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara and Britain’s Paul Broadhurst shared second place on 275.
It was Olazabal’s 23rd European Tour title. His revamped greens came in for criticism the previous day but he proved the master of the putting surfaces when he sank a 35-foot effort on the fourth.
By the turn he had forged four strokes ahead and he went on to become the third Spanish winner of the event in the three years it has been played. It was victory at Olazabal’s third attempt in Majorca.
In 2003 he went out of bounds to double-bogey the 17th and then bogeyed the last to hand the title to compatriot Miguel Angel Jimenez. Last year he finished 10th behind Garcia.
Three Share Lead Going Into
Funai Classic Final Round
In Toronto, South Africa’s Tim Clark and American Tom Pernice Jr. joined Rich Beem in a three-way lead at the Funai Classic in Orlando yesterday after completing their weather delayed third rounds.
Clark returned a six-under 66 while Pernice had a four-under 68 at the Walt Disney World Resort’s Magnolia Golf Club. They joined Beem for the lead at 19-under 197 going into final round. Lurking one shot behind on a congested leaderboard at 18-under 198 are Americans Mark Calcavecchia and Mark Wilson, Sweden’s Carl Pettersson and Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy.
Briton Justin Rose and Harrison Frazar are a further stroke adrift at 17-under 199 in the $4.4 million event which has been hit by severe weather delays on Friday and Saturday.
