REVIEW: Spaniard makes big splash

Pablo Larrazabal booked himself a place at Royal Birkdale after completing a breathtaking wire-to-wire win at the French Open.

The 25-year-old from Barcelona, who has caddied at the Open for his brother (and 2002 Amateur champion) Alejandro though never played in the championship, came through the local qualifying two weeks ago, arrived in Paris 481st in the world and is now being talked about as an outsider for the Ryder Cup team.

Another player to leap up the Valhalla rankings is Colin Montgomerie who took second place on his own after holing a 40-footer on the last and he will now head to the London Club to defend his European Open crown full of confidence.

The Scot may have forgotten the winner's surname but he was full of praise for the new champion.

"Forgive me for not knowing the winner's name - let's just call him Pablo - but he has a great future ahead of him, the kid.

"Good luck to him. The flags were no 'gimmes' on the last four and he played them in two under. It's difficult to win out here and he has done it very well."

The Spaniard showed few signs of any nerves, his only real blunder came at the 9th when he thinned a chip to drop two shots,
otherwise he was brilliant. Three birdies on the front nine kept Montgomerie and Lee Westwood at bay, two more followed at 10 and 11 and he finished four clear of the field after further birdies at 15 and 16.

He did find the lake at the last but that was only after being thrown in by some of his countrymen.

"I promise you I don't know what I did! I know that the weekend was probably the best golf of my life. I came here just to try to make the cut and make some euros. In practice rounds I always play that well, but never in a tournament before. But there always has to be a first time for everything. Montgomerie is one of the three best players in the history of the European Tour. Lee Westwood finished third at the US Open. Right now I know that I can play like those guys."

Larrazabal's previous best finish was 15th and he had never previously come within eight strokes of the winner, but now he charges from 128th on the Order of Merit into the leading 10 and up more than 300 places on the world rankings.