Mikko Ilonen takes Scandinavian Masters title in thrilling finish

Birdie at the last too much for German rival

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By William Moore
     
      Mikko Ilonen enjoyed the biggest triumph of his professional golfing career on Sunday, taking the Scandinavian Masters title over the par-70 Arlandastad Old Course near Stockholm by two strokes after a highly eventful roller-coaster fourth round. Ilonen finished 6-under on 274 (67+72+67+68), pulling himself up on the final day from tied 3rd place overnight.
      His main challenger throughout the day was the joint overnight leader Martin Kaymer of Germany, and these two - who were in the penultimate and last pairings out on the course - were locked together at 7-under after fifteen holes, two strokes clear of the chasing pack.
     
At that point disaster struck for Ilonen, in the shape of a double bogey five at the par-3 16th, where his tee shot went right and found the water. An attempt to splash the ball out from the edge of the lake didn't exactly improve matters, and he pitched on with his third and two-putted for five. Kaymer softened the blow somewhat by going over the back of the green and bogeying the same hole himself a few minutes later, but it nevertheless looked as if any real chance of victory had been frittered away.
      However, Ilonen hit a superb 4-iron to the flag and drained a five-foot putt to birdie the final hole, another long par-3, moving himself back into a tie for the lead at 6-under. It was incidentally the first time all week, practice rounds included, that he had managed to hit the green on this hole. The birdie left Kaymer - who was watching the proceedings from the tee - under pressure to par the last to force a play-off or birdie it to win outright.
      The German could do neither, taking a catastrophic five after missing the green and fluffing his chip. Ilonen, who was biting his nails by the scorers' caravan and wondering if he and his South African caddie Reggie Mokhosi would need to play some more golf, suddenly found himself the winner by two shots.
     
Kaymer's late collapse meant the German finished with a 73 in a five-way tie for second place on 276.
      He was joined there by Christian Cévaër and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet of France, Nick Dougherty of England, and Sweden's best hope Peter Hedblom. The other overnight leader James Kingston of South Africa faded to a share of 7th place after a disappointing 4-over 74.
     
The 27-year-old Ilonen, who became the first-ever Finnish European Tour winner back in February, played himself into contention on Sunday over the front nine, going out in 32 with four birdies and two bogies on his card.
      A string of pars followed after the turn, and a birdie four at the relatively easy long 15th hole eased Ilonen in front. With Kaymer having already surrendered a three-shot overnight advantage and apparently struggling to stay at level par, Ilonen's stock seemed to be rising - until things got wet on the 16th, just as Kaymer matched the Finn's birdie at 15 to go 7-under.
      But if the Finnish player was temporarily despondent there, and perhaps even more so when he then missed a sitter for birdie on the 17th, he never lost heart altogether. "I still didn't consider I'd lost the tournament after the 16th", he told journalists. "You can make a five, even a six, in a heartbeat at that hole and I knew Martin had a tough finish to come."
     
Still, even if tournament golf is a four-day slog, and every hole counts, we should spare a thought for Kaymer, who was looking for his maiden win on the tour and saw it slip through his hands at the death. It was the second time this year he has seen a third-round lead fall by the wayside: the young German led after 54 holes at the Welsh Open in June, only to slide back into 14th place.
      The 22-year-old, still only in his rookie season, will have learnt from the experience, and Ilonen believes it will not be long before Kaymer is lifting a trophy of his own.
     
This may not have been Mikko Ilonen's first win on the European Tour circuit, but it is definitely a bigger splash than the victory he achieved in Jakarta in February, albeit that that success broke the ice and guaranteed him "job-security" in the form of exemption from having to qualify on the tour for two years.
      Even without this latest triumph, the 2007 season has been something of a revelation for those who follow Ilonen's fortunes.
      After winning the British Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2000 and turning pro in May 2001, and after a sensational 9th place in the 2001 British Open, he has struggled to retain his European Tour card each year, and indeed in 2006 he was back on the Challenge Tour circuit. However, he dug in and secured a return to the top echelon with strong performances in the handful of European Tour opportunities that came his way.
     
This year, buoyed by that early success in Indonesia, he has come good and produced several excellent showings, including top 10 finishes at the Welsh and Scottish Opens and a tied 12th place at the flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. He has also scored his first hole-in-one on the Tour, aceing the final hole in a round of 66 at the K Club in Kildare during the European Open.
     
Before the Scandinavian Masters, Ilonen was sitting comfortably in 43rd place on the European Order of Merit table. The handsome prize cheque of EUR 267,000 he collected on Sunday will push his earnings for the year so far well over EUR 700,000 and send him up to 27th on the tour, ahead of quite a few more famous names in the sport.
      A delighted Ilonen noted after the competition that even if "you never wish for a finish like that", it was truly a tournament he relished winning. The Scandinavian Masters is not only "close to home", but also among the best-supported events on the entire European Tour. Around 120,000 attended over the four days, a figure bettered only by the British Open.
      Ilonen - who paid full credit to his caddie for keeping him relaxed throughout and always coming up with the right clubs for the job - might also have mentioned that this was not really a tournament he has hitherto enjoyed much success in: in five previous attempts, he had never even made the halfway cut here before!


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Mikko Ilonen collects EUR 90,000 for a day´s work (29.5.2007)
  Mikko Ilonen becomes first Finnish golfer to win European Tour event (19.2.2007)
  Mikko Ilonen continues to rewrite Finnish golf history (23.7.2001)
  Mikko Ilonen turns pro at 22 (2.5.2001)
  A huge step for Finnish golf (12.6.2000)

Links:
  European Tour - Mikko Ilonen
  European Tour - Scandinavian Masters

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