Goosen gives up on title
Retief Goosen has all but given up his title of European number one, with fellow South African Ernie Els set to replace him.
Goosen took a one-shot lead into today’s second round of the final-ever Lancome Trophy in Paris, but even his second victory at St Nom-la-Breteche on Sunday would barely make a dent in Els’ lead on the money list.
Els is more than €1.7m ahead of Goosen, who lies in 19th after a poor season by his standards, with Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke the nearest challenger to Els after winning the NEC Invitational last month.
And although there are enough big money events left for Goosen to make up the deficit – the Dunhill Links Championship and American Express Championship offer first prizes of more than €713,000 each – the 34-year-old is more realistic about his chances.
“I have been pretty consistent with a lot of top-10s and played well in America, but Europe has been disappointing, I have not played well enough in the big tournaments,” admitted Goosen.
“But I am looking forward to the next few weeks and hopefully I can at least get a win under my belt.
“I am not really expecting to win the Order of Merit again, I would have to win here and two of the next three events – but I will try my best and see if I can keep my run going.”
That run of at least one win a year stretches back to 1999 when he won his second French Open title, and playing in France clearly agrees with him as he also won this title in 2000 and finished second the following year.
“It must be the red wine,” joked Goosen, who admitted the birth of his first child Leo earlier this year had affected his focus.
Goosen had a one-shot lead over Swede Mikael Lundberg with England’s Simon Wakefield a shot further back.
Colin Montgomerie had to settle for a three-under-par 68 after finding water on the 18th for his second bogey of the day.
Montgomerie has reverted to the Callaway irons he used to win the majority of his seven Order of Merit titles – despite expecting Callaway to cancel his multi-million pound contract with suppliers Hogan.
The 40-year-old switched from Callaway to Hogan in a lucrative long-term deal at the end of last year, only to see Callaway buy Hogan last week.
“It’s up in the air and in the hands of the lawyers,” added Montgomerie, who is still using the Hogan ball as that was the main reason behind the switch.
“I don’t know what is going to happen. But it could be a golden opportunity for me to do what I want to do. Most professionals would love to play the clubs they want rather than the ones they have to.”
