Stephen Ames couldn't contain his smile after blowing away European golf's biggest names.
Ames, best-known because he's the only European tour regular playing out of Trinidad and Tobago, had just won Sunday's Benson and Hedges International with Europe's strongest field so far this season, including all 12 of the 1995 winning Ryder Cup team."You better believe I'm smiling," said Ames, nursing a glass of champagne. "Colin (Montgomerie) and (Nick) Faldo were all falling back, which made me think I was no different from those guys, except I was handling the conditions."
The conditions in the Benson and Hedges were awful for all four rounds, but Sunday's final round was especially gruesome. Under the gale-like conditions, with winds reaching 40 mph, Ames was the only player to manage a par-72 on the final day. He finished one stroke ahead of Jon Robson of England at 5-under 283 for 72 holes.
Everybody else in the field was over par on Sunday and 34 players shot 80 or more. For four days, only five players broke par on the demanding, Rees Jones-designed, 7,205-yard Oxfordshire layout.
The win was no fluke, although it will be questioned. So will the decision by European tour officials not to put it off until Monday. Television probably dictated it be played, as well as the fact that Oxfordshire is the site of Monday and Tuesday's Andersen Consulting European regional.
It was only Ames' second win in this fourth season on the PGA European Tour. This one was worth $176,200, just over a third of his winnings in Europe the last three years.
Ames, who lives with his Canadian wife and former caddy Jodi in Calgary, prospered on a wretched final day when Europe's best-known players like Faldo, Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam were all beaten by the weather. The turning point came after a double-bogey on the par-3 second hole.
"That woke me up," said Ames, who started the final round four strokes behind third-round leader Montgomerie, who had a three-stroke lead over Woosnam.
"At No. 2, I took the pin out and threw it down at the side of the green," Ames added. "I realized we were out there to play golf and I would have to deal with the conditions . . . At the start of the day I was kind of disappointed the PGA decided to play under such bad conditions . . . I feel different now."
The weather made Europe's best players look pedestrian. Montgomerie, the European money leader the last three years, soared to an 84. Masters champion Faldo had an 80, and Woosnam - the money leader this season in Europe - shot 82.
Montgomerie's 12-over 84 included a two-stroke penalty for kicking sand in a bunker at the 13th. Asked if the course was playable, he answered "possibly not," and then stormed away and refused to answer more questions.
Faldo, who finished 4-over for the tournament, called the course "borderline playable."