Wet drive at 18th spoils Mikko Ilonen's Portugal Masters weekend

Fifth Top-10 finish on European Tour could have been that much better

print this

Finnish golfer Mikko Ilonen has come into a decent vein of form in the past few weeks, and at the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura over the weekend he finished in a share of 9th place, his fifth top ten placing of the season on the European Tour.
      All the same, Ilonen will probably be kicking himself for not doing appreciably better: he finished on 14-under (65+68+69+72), but that fourth round in par included a double bogey at the last, where Ilonen hooked his drive into the lake.
     
A good deal of nonsense is talked about missed putts or wayward drives "costing a lot of money", since the fact of the matter is that every single golf shot makes up the total, and not just one putt that lips out or just one approach shot that finds rough instead of the green.
      Even so, on this occasion the numbers riding on that drive down the 18th were quite imposing.
      If Ilonen had finished in par and on -16, he would have got himself a share of 2nd place, and would have picked up prize money in the region of EUR 165,000.
      As it was, he collected a cheque for EUR 52,000.
     
Ilonen himself noted that the problem was mainly that he was not making the big putts, although he was regularly dropping the ball into birdie-opportunity positions.
      In his opening round of 65, he had just 25 putts, while on Sunday it was 32.
     
The hypothetical fatter winnings in Portugal would also probably have been enough to propel Ilonen across the line into the top 60 players on the European Tour's order of merit, entitling him to take part in the Dubai World Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai at the end of the season.
      As it is now, he is currently still in 67th spot and needs a few more decent results before the season comes to an end.
     
This should not be beyond him, as Ilonen has made the cut in four of his last five tournaments, including 9th place in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland and a decent finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, one of the tour's richest competitions.
      A two-time European Tour winner, Ilonen has earned just over 400,000 euros on the golf course this year, with his best showing being 4th place at the Volvo China Open in April.
      His next competition will be the Andalucía Valderrama Masters at the end of the month.
     
The event on Portugal's Algarve was won by left-hander Richard Green of Australia, who came storming through the field with a closing round of 65 to win by two shots in -18, as overnight leader Pablo Martin of Spain blew up on the back nine to fall into 6th place.
      Possibly the most remarkable scorecard of all was that handed in by Ryder Cup player Francesco Molinari of Italy, who played 74+62+74+62 to finish 16-under in a tie for 2nd.
      After the first day, Molinari was several shots away from even making the 36-hole cut, and after the third day's play he was again languishing down in 52nd place.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Double bogeys mar Mikko Ilonen´s first round at US Open (18.6.2010)

Links:
  Mikko Ilonen website and blog
  European Tour: Mikko Ilonen

Helsingin Sanomat