Olazabal back into the Ryder equation

Jose Maria Olazabal was not the only man smiling after his first victory for 12 months in the floodblighted French Open here yesterday. On the eve of the defence of his last win, in the Benson & Hedges International at the Belfry, the 35year-old Spaniard moved up from 16th to sixth in the Ryder Cup qualifying table with closing rounds of 66 and 67 for a 12under-par total of 268. His 19th European Tour success, worth some £135,000 sterling, in a championship which lost more than 13 hours to the wet weather, substantially eases the pressure on the Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, who is allowed only two personal picks in his 12 to face the Americans back at the Belfry in September. Olazabal has been campaigning across the Atlantic, where the best of his eight finishes so far is a tie for 12th in the Players Championship, and he missed the cut on his first European outing of the season in last month's Spanish Open. His solid 15th place in the US Masters counted towards a Ryder return, but it was important for Torrance's peace of mind that Olazabal got some more points under his belt. Olazabal and the Italian Costantino Rocca had started the final round as joint leaders on nine under after completing the third round in the morning, Rocca carding a superb 64 to outscore Olazabal by two shots.

Rocca, dramatically back on form, then set the target with a closing 69 for 270, and a spectacular eagle three at the last by New Zealand's Greg Turner, who hit a five-wood 235 yards from the soggy fairway to 12 feet for a 67, matched that total.

But a safety-first long iron off the tee at the 18th by Olazabal, who struggled with his driver all week, underlined the Spaniard's ability to keep his nerve under the strongest pressure as he pitched to six feet for a clinching birdie. The diminutive Lancastrian Paul Eales may lack length but he is not short of determination and birdies at the 11th, from 20 feet, and the long 15th got him to 10 under. But Eales had to settle for a share of second with Rocca and Turner after a 68, finishing two behind Olazabal.

In the morning Rocca, after opening rounds of 68 and 69, shot a third-round 64 to show he has at last rediscovered the scoring form which earned him five tour victories and three Ryder Cup outings in the 1990s. His 64 was sprinkled with six birdies, but there was to be no repeat of his 1993 victory at the same Parcours des Sangliers venue in the Lyon Open. Olazabal swiftly found himself three shots clear of Rocca early in the final round. But the Italian, after nervously opening his second round of the day with a brace of bogeys, bounced back to draw level again with birdies at the fifth - a 571-yard hole turned into a par three because of the flooding - and the sixth, plus a birdie three from 15 feet at the 12th.