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European Tour Article
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Immelman beats Harrington for 2nd Win |
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| After the overnight leader, Frenchman Gregory Havret, dropped four shots in the first five holes, the final day at the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Germany turned into a two man battle between Trevor Immelman and Padraig Harrington. | |
| Having started the day sharing second place, two shots off the lead, both players completed the front nine in three under par to leave themselves clear of the field and they were never more than a shot apart all afternoon. Both players were looking for their second win of the season and in the end it came down to the final hole. South Africa's Immelman birdied the 18th from eight feet having watched, and learned from, his playing partner Joakim Haeggman's putt on the same line, as it rolled tantalizingly over the right edge of the hole. His final round score of 65 gave him a 17 under par winning total of 271. |
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Irishman Harrington landed his second shot on the 18th green just ten feet from the flag but was unable to sink the birdie putt which would have forced a playoff. His round of 66 earned him the runner-up spot on 272, four shots clear of the rest of the field. Harrington's earnings of €333,330 moved him up to fourth place on the 2004 Volvo Order of Merit, less than €20,000 behind Immelman who picked up €500,000 and moved from 20th to third place. |
| Third place in the tournament was shared by Swede Joakim Haeggman and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke who both started the day three shots off the lead, carded rounds of 69 and finished with 276. Haeggman put himself into contention for the final day by recording a third round 66, the best of only five sub-70 rounds on Saturday, as many of the players struggled with the cold, windy conditions. He moved up 44 places to #75 in the World Rankings with the points he won here. If he picks up a few more next week he will earn himself a place in the field for the US Open. |
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This was Darren Clarke's fourth 3rd place finish in 2004 and his second
consecutive top-ten, having finished tied for 5th place at the British Masters a couple of
weeks ago. A shot further back, tied for fifth place on 277, were Ernie Els, David Howell and Soren Kjeldsen, who all shot 6 under par rounds of 66 on Sunday. Overnight leader, Havret, shot a disappointing round of 82 to finished with a share of 23rd place. |
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