Play-off agony for McIlroy
Rory McIlroy was a five-foot putt away from becoming the third youngest winner in European Tour history - and then saw it all go horribly wrong.
The 19-year-old Northern Irishman lost the Omega European Masters to Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin at the second hole of a play-off at Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland.
After his par attempt on the 72nd hole had failed and he had angrily thrown his ball into the water by the green McIlroy had another chance to take the title at the start of sudden death.
However, his 15-foot attempt missed as well and, hard though it was to believe, worse was to follow.
Playing the 405-yard 18th for the third time he hit a 25-foot birdie putt 18 inches past the cup and incredibly missed that too.
Lucquin, 12 feet away, suddenly had victory in his grasp and with two for it needed only one to lift his first European Tour title in 175 attempts.
The 29-year-old, who actually lives in Switzerland, was ranked 460th in the world at the start of the week and at 127th on the Order of Merit was fighting for his future.
Now he has a two-year exemption on the circuit and is €333,330 richer.
For McIlroy the runners-up cheque for € 222,220 - plus a €4,300 watch for his first round 63 on Thursday - was little consolation.
Only South African Dale Hayes and Spain's Seve Ballesteros had won at a younger age.
"Obviously I am very disappointed," he said. "I got very unlucky on the 18th in regulation, where it got a pretty big bounce for a sand wedge.
"I hit a good chip, but not a very good putt. Then second time around in the play-off it didn't really matter as he holed his.
"That made me feel a bit better after missing that putt. I can take a lot from this week - I played very well all week and played well coming down the stretch, but unfortunately one bad shot cost me.
"I came here after three missed cuts in a row and found a bit of form. It would have been nice to go home with the trophy, but I have plenty more tournaments even this year.
"It would be great to get a win this year, but if not I have the rest of my career. C'est la vie."
He had been four clear with a round to play, but after bogeys at the second and third suddenly found himself one behind and then down to fourth place at one point.
However, last year's leading amateur at The Open came back from that and moved one ahead again by sinking a 20-foot birdie putt at the long 15th.
By getting down in a chip and a putt on the next two holes he stood on the last needing another par for the trophy.
Going over the green gave Lucquin hope, though, and after his chip had run just past the edge of the hole he was one shot from glory. But 11 shots later it was all over and he was the loser.
The pair had tied on the 13-under-par total of 271, Lucquin closing with a 67 to McIlroy's bitterly disappointing level-par 71.
Joint third only one behind were Ryder Cup Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Scot Gary Orr, Swiss player Julien Clement and another Frenchman, Christian Cevaer.
Jimenez was the only member of Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup team in the field - and the only player in the world's top 50 - and had chances galore on the greens to win the title.
"There are 14 clubs in the bag and one of them, I don't like him," he said after his 67. "I had a nightmare."
For Orr it was a third top eight finish in his last four starts. He also closed with a 67 and a birdie on the last earned him £76,383 for his week's work.
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Omega European, Masters Crans-sur-Sierre GC, Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
271 Rory McIlroy 63 71 66 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 67 69 67(Lucquin won play-off at second extra hole)
272 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 68 71 65 68, Gary Orr 67 71 67 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 69 68 67, Julien Clement (Swi) 69 68 67 68
273 Juan Abbate (Arg) 68 67 69 69, Robert Dinwiddie 76 64 64 69, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 69 70 66 68, Ross McGowan 67 73 66 67
274 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 70 69 66, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 68 69 70, Julio Zapata (Arg) 66 72 67 69
275 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 69 71 65, Barry Lane 71 70 65 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 70 68 68
276 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 68 71 68, Mark Foster 72 66 68 70
277 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 73 68 70 66, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 72 68 67
278 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 71 75 64, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 71 68 69
279 David Griffiths 70 69 68 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 71 68 71, Peter Lawrie 67 69 72 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 70 70 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 67 72 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 67 67 73 72, Robert Rock 72 68 70 69, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 69 66 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 73 72 66
280 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 67 70 70 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 72 66 72, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 71 71 67 71, Paul Waring 71 71 66 72, Peter Baker 70 70 69 71, Simon Dyson 69 67 72 72, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 72 71 67, Andrew Marshall 70 70 71 69, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 70 68 75, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 72 70 65 73
281 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 67 72 74 68, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 71 69 71
282 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 68 72 71 71, Scott Barr (Aus) 69 68 76 69, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 71 71 71 69
283 Garry Houston 66 73 70 74, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 66 70 76, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 70 70 71, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 71 71 70 71, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 69 72 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 68 72 72, Tom Whitehouse 72 68 68 75, Miles Tunnicliff 71 69 71 72
284 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 69 73 72 70, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 66 71 76, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 72 67 75, Bradley Dredge 69 70 72 73
285 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 69 68 73 75, Steve Alker (Nzl) 71 70 71 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 69 72 70 74, Florian Praegant (Aut) 72 70 73 70, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 71 68 75 71
286 Matthew Millar (Aus) 70 72 70 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 69 70 74
287 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 70 76 72, Francis Valera (Spa) 73 67 77 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 69 74 73, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 71 69 76 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 74 68 74 71
289 Simon Griffiths 76 66 71 76
290 Ken Benz (Swi) 68 74 73 75, Pablo Martin (Spa) 71 71 74 74
291 Craig Lee 73 69 74 75