GOLF/Madeira Island Open: Welshman Bradley Dredge became the European Tour's sixth first-time winner of the season when he strolled to an eight-stroke success in the Madeira Island Open yesterday.
Dredge had set up his runaway victory the day before with a blistering 12-under-par 60, which gave him an eight-shot lead going into the final round.
Even a moderate closing effort of one-under-par 71 for a 16-under-par 272 total left second-placed Brian Davis, Andrew Marshall and Fredrik Andersson in his wake.
The 29-year-old was hardly ruffled, apart from bogeys at the first, eighth and final holes, as he lived up to his status as tournament favourite. At 72nd, he was the highest world-ranked player in Madeira.
His €100,000 win ended two years of frustration when he had often looked likely to claim his first victory but stumbled or fallen at the final hurdle.
Last November's Volvo Masters was a prime example - he led the prestigious season-end tournament going into the final round but had to settle for third place behind joint-winners Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer.
He had also finished second twice, in the 2001 Italian Open and last year's European Open.
"I've waited for this for a long time," said Dredge. "Last year was especially frustrating, even though I've tried to be patient.
"My 60 in the third round made it so much easier. I never imagined in my wildest dreams I would have eight putts to win from four inches.
"Nobody really came after me and that made my day a lot easier. I said I wouldn't look at leaderboards, but I did at the 12th and when I saw I still had an eight- or nine-shot lead I just cruised from there."
An exemption from having to qualify for the European Tour until the end of the 2005 season means Dredge has new targets, and this win could bring one of his major goals of this season to fruition.
"It came to me last night that if I won I could go from 72nd in the world rankings into the top 50 and get to Augusta for the US Masters," he said.
Dredge will know his ranking early this morning.
Although Dredge's margin of victory in Madeira was one of the European Tour's largest it was still seven strokes in arrears of the record 15 set by Tiger Woods in the 2000 US Open.
Nor did the Welshman's third-round 60 equal the tour 18-hole record, because preferred lies were in operation all week at Santo da Serra.
Runners-up Andersson of Sweden and Englishman Marshall achieved career-best finishes. Davis, another Englishman, won the 2000 Spanish Open and finished second in last year's Madrid Open.
Damien McGrane posted a closing 70 to finish best of the Irish, on 287.
Gary Murphy (291), Philip Walton (295) and Stephen Browne (297) were the other Irish finishers.
Severiano Ballesteros, who on Friday furiously accused officials of breaking his concentration with slow-play warnings, mistakenly thinking he had missed the cut, could not take advantage of his luck in making the final two rounds.
The Spaniard had hoped to begin to resurrect his faltering career in Madeira after getting what he called good vibrations about this season. However, the five-time major champion ran up a triple-bogey on the third on his way to a 76 to finish 26 strokes adrift of Dredge and tied for 67th place.
Britain's Mark Sanders got the tour's fifth hole-in-one of the year when his six-iron guided his ball home on the 202-yard fourth.
