McDowell comes up short

Golf:It was a case of close, but no cigar for either Graeme McDowell or Damien McGrane in Austria this afternoon as they failed to catch David Lynn and Jose Manuel Lara in the final round of the Austrian Open

Lara forced a play-off after a superb closing round of 64 in Atzenbrugg before claiming his second European Tour title in extra holes. McDowell (69) shared third place on 14 under with McGrane, who closed with a splendid 65, a shot further back.

Lara had missed nine successive cuts before finishing fourth at last week’s KLM Open, and the confidence he gleaned from that performance carried him to an emotional triumph in today.

The 33-year-old from Valencia surged up the leaderboard from eighth place overnight after recording 10 birdies and two bogeys in his eight-under-par round of 64. That meant he finished tied on 17-under 271 for the tournament with Lynn, who carded 68, as the pair overtook overnight leader Danny Willett who finished with three successive bogeys.

The leading pair both returned to the 18th tee to decide the victor, and Lynn put himself in trouble on the par-four hole by finding rough on the right, behind a grass bank and almost in a bunker. From there could only trundle the ball halfway to the green.

Lara’s tee shot was not perfect, finding light rough on the left, but he was able to find the putting surface with his second shot. Lynn pitched his third shot to around 15 feet, but Lara then putted to four feet.

The pressure was on the 37-year-old Englishman and he failed to hole his testing putt, allowing Lara to step forward and find the heart of the hole to take victory with a par.

Lara won his only previous European Tour title outside of Europe, prevailing at the Hong Kong Open in November 2006. He celebrated with his caddie, embraced runner-up Lynn, and was then chased around the green by Champagne-spraying players including his fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Lara had plenty of reason to be satisfied, not least the cheque for €125,000 which was his reward. He came into the tournament at a lowly 130th in the Race to Dubai, and was in danger of having to go to the qualifying school to earn his card for next season.

Victory solves that problem though, guaranteeing him a place on the tour for 2011.

Simon Thornton picked up a cheque for €7,012 as he battles to retain his card while Gary Murphy, another in real danger of losing his privileges next season, could only finish in 64th place.

Collated scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irishin bold, par 72)

271Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 66 71 70 64 (Jose Manuel won at 1st play-off hole), David Lynn 68 71 64 68

274 Graeme McDowell69 68 68 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 70 67 68, Danny Willett 69 69 65 71

275Chris Gane 69 70 66 70, Damien McGrane67 76 67 65

276Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 68 70 68 70

277Luis Claverie (Spa) 71 71 66 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 69 70 69

278Andrew Coltart 69 70 70 69, Richard Green (Aus) 72 72 69 65, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 69 68 68 73, Steve Surry 70 73 66 69

279Sam Hutsby 69 72 69 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 68 70 69, Todd Hamilton (USA) 73 68 71 67, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 72 70 69, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 66 75 71 67

280John Parry 69 67 72 72, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 72 65 70, Alastair Forsyth 74 68 70 68

281Benn Barham 71 69 71 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 73 69 69, Mark Brown (Nzl) 77 68 69 67

282Gary Lockerbie 71 69 70 72, Andrea Maestroni (Ita) 69 70 69 74, Sion E Bebb 70 72 72 68, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 74 68 69 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 65 76 69 72, Simon Thornton69 70 75 68

283Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 68 70 74 71, Anders Sjostrand (Swe) 73 68 74 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 70 69 69 75, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 71 69 72

284Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 74 68 72, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 73 69 71 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 74 70 69 71, Javi Colomo (Spa) 68 75 68 73, Philip Golding 69 69 73 73

285Andrew McArthur 70 73 71 71, Robert Coles 73 72 68 72, Steven O'Hara 71 74 71 69, Julien Quesne (Fra) 69 76 72 68

286Marco Crespi (Ita) 75 69 74 68, Jamie Little 76 69 69 72, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 73 71 71 71, Scott Hend (Aus) 70 75 72 69, Markus Brier (Aut) 74 71 73 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 70 73 71 72, Sam Little 70 72 72 72

287Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 73 69 69 76, Scott Drummond 71 72 71 73

288Marco Soffietti (Ita) 71 73 72 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 71 71 75

289Marc Warren 71 71 72 75, James Mclean (Aus) 72 73 74 70, Oliver Fisher 71 73 72 73

290Gary Clark 71 70 73 76, Jordi Garcia (Spa) 70 72 75 73

291Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 69 74 73, Thomas Haylock 72 73 73 73, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 74 69 72 76

292 Gary Murphy73 72 72 75

293Shiv Kapur (Ind) 76 66 76 75, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 73 72 78 70, Peter Baker 72 71 79 71

294Kalle Brink (Swe) 71 73 75 75

295Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 73 72 72 78, Steen Ottosen (Den) 74 67 80 74

296Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 73 78 73

297Rick Kulacz (Aus) 73 70 75 79, Raimo Sjoberg (Den) 72 73 76 76, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 72 71 77 77