The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 18

18 I SPORTS NEWS The Guardian Monday September 25 1995 Richard Williams follows Europe's was awful but his presence illuminating Pavin perfect Wild, when chips talisman through the travails ofa day when his driving woolly and wonderful Save were down chips from the edge of the 2nd for a rare birdie in his 4 and 3 defeat by Tom Lehman yesterday photograph garv hehshorn him: two putts for Lehman A i you need, The referee Lbacked away as Ballesteros shook his head and set his jaw. "A chainsaw," someone said, looking at the obstacles facing the Spaniard. Ballesteros was on the 5th hole of the East Course at Oak Hill Country Club yesterday, or rather in the approximate environment of the 5th. His hooked drive had put him perhaps 50 yards off the fairway, which on yesterday's farm was pretty good going. But separating him from the green were four of the tallest willows in New York State.

The once and perhaps future talisman of Europe's team went out first yesterday at his captain's behest, presumably to sound the charge. But he lost to Tom Lehman by 4 and 3, and the reason was simple: in 15 holes he hit only two fairways. Lehman, a player of more uncomplicated virtues, missed only one. Ballesteros is the man of whom it has truly been said that he took golf to the people. That is exactly what he did yesterday, hitting an unusually high proportion of his shots from areas customarily reserved for the public.

Bernard Gallacher may have been less than delighted with his bold decision when Ballesteros hooked his very first drive straight into a small ash tree, needing a drop to give himself a chance of es cape. His recovery was full of guts and inventiveness, but he still lost the opening hole to Lehman's regulation shots up the middle. Yet a birdie for Ballesteros at the 2nd gave a hint that magic might be in the air as he drove into the rough and then smacked his second shot into the clumpy grass just short of a bunker guarding the raised green, before chipping straight into the hole to restore equality. Par for both men at the 3rd represented a rare interlude of normal golf. At the 4th, a group of us clustered near the landing area spent tive min utes devotedly searching a fir grove for Ballesteros ball be fore it turned up on the far side of the fairway, having bounced across after hitting a branch.

He smacked a wood up the margin of, the, course from rough to rough but was not made to pay for it. The 5th turned out to con tain an unforgettable piece of golf, as long as you happened to lie standing behind him when he hit a nine-iron out of the swamp, over the towering willows and on to the green 150 yards away, almost bring ing down the television airship on me way to making his par. Waiting on the fringe of the 6th green lor tile pair to ar- Hockey England Pat Rowley in Berlin ENGLAND'S revamped and inexperienced team were beaten here by both Pakistan and the Netherlands, last year's World Cup finalists. However, the defeats in England's first two matches in the Champions Trophy, both under floodlights, came only by the odd goal. They lost 2-1 to the Netherlands on Saturday and 1-0 to Pakistan yesterday.

In both matches England more than held their own and deserved a better result. Pakistan managed to force only two corners in the match, the second too late to be taken. In effect they scored from their only corner of the game, Naveeb Alam striking in the 44th minute. England, with the new fullback partnership of Julian Halls and Jon Wyatt firmly in control at the back, and Kal-bir Takhcr dominating the middle of the field, did far more of the attacking. Unfor Snooker ii NYTHING else Shot in the arm Ballesteros Lehman's father and brother were anxious.

"They'll have to change his name from Ballesteros to Houdini if he carries on like this," Lehman's brother said. "Tom's just got to keep it straight," his father counselled from afar, "and wait." Ballesteros was to keep the Lehman family waiting a little while longer. Out of thick rough on the 7th he welcomed the. arrival of Concorde, with another good recovery and a confident eight-foot putt to keep pace with a man still sending one drive after another arrowing up the middle. At the 8th, however, Ballesteros landed his drive in a sand-trap, left his third shot short and could not match Lehman's par, to go one down again.

He kept us entertained with another muscular recovery from a muddy footpath at the Fired up, the Spaniard approached the most daunting hole of the magnificent East Course, the switchback 13th. True to form he sent his drive over the crowd, over the trees, over the footpath and into a patch of mud. This time he smashed it back across the fairway but could the crowd of-perhaps 10,000 thronging the Hill of Fame only from a bunker by the side of the green. A delicate wedge out of the sand was not enough to save his par. and Lehman picked up another hole.

The hook into the rough from the 14th tee was by now inevitable, giving Lehman the chance to widen the gap still further. The American drove to the heart of the green on the short downhill 15th, and Ballesteros, nerves twanging, sent his tee shot over the back side. A chip and a putt for form green. Ballesteros from 15 feet, Lehman from a little further. Lehman putted, missed narrowly, looked across at Ballesteros, and knocked in his ball.

This, however, was a match-play competition, and Ballesteros complained, saying that he hadintended to let Lehman pick up his ball only after he. himself had putted, having used the American's marker as an aiming guide. Words were exchanged, and if they were not fierce they were certainly vehement. Lehman summoned the referee, fearing that he might be forced to forfeit the hole. There was some booing of Ballesteros, which the American attempted to quell.

And after a few minutes play was resumed, both men picking up and shaking hands after Ballesteros had in turn missed his birdie. Cycling DavidDaviesona superb shot that put he US two points up going into yesterday's singles Ji KILLER blows go, this was delivered with surgical preci- msion. Corey Pavin, the man everyone knows they can beat, once again defied that collective knowledge and proved himself one of the greatest fighters the game has known. Pavin, desperately out of form, struggling to find a fairway or a green, did neither at the lBth on Saturday in the last, crucial match of the afternoon four balls. After two shots he was in the rough at the back of the green, facing a chip of such delicacy that, if his ball missed the hole, it would probably roll 10 feet past.

His partner, Loren Roberts, was 60ft away with no chance of a birdie whereas the opposi tion, in the form of Nick Faldo, was 12ft away after two shots of the very high est class. A bookmaker would have made Faldo a very short priced favourite to win the hole, but Pavin has spent a litetime delying the odds: he fails to recognise defeat even when it faces him, eyeball to eyeball. The chip had to be hit hard enough to get it out of the grass and carry, just, on to the green. It had to be hit sottly enough to be hardly moving when it hit the putting surface, and accurately enough to take the break of about two feet which would carry it down to the hole. away, Also Pavin knew that if it missed and the mutch was lost, Europe would be tied with the United States at 0-8; if it went in, his country would enjoy a two- point lead going into the singles, something unpre cedented for the Americans in recent cup history.

But the fear of victory has never been greater than the fear of defeat for Pavin, and he hit it per fectly. The ball did every thing it was supposed to, catching the corner of the cup and, after a brief struggle when it tried to squirm out, dropping to the bottom oi tnc noie. Pavin might have been expected to set off on an arm-pumping, air-puncli Basketball Storm have their eye on Gordon Robert Pryce IF THE Budweiser League held a strong-man competi tion, Trevor Gordon would be the favourite and Martin Ford would back himself to win. These two behemoths may soon be pulling in the same direction as a daunting inside duo for the Derby Storm. 'If we get Trevor we have the top two," the Derby coach Jeff Jones said yesterday.

"The bruise Drotners. Derby will make an offer for Gordon today. The Manchester Giants, who have made the 6ft 9in England centre available for transfer after a row over contractual terms, are asking 3,000, which they would happily reduce if they were to be offered a suitable centre in return. The Storm took over at the top of the league for a day after victories on successive nights a sprightly 83-55 win at Doncaster on Friday and a wearier 77-74 home win over Hemel on Saturday but with Gordon in their team they would look more credible title challengers. Jones could surround the bruise brothers with a gang of gunners and his bench would go as deep as any in the league.

Jones muted the gunners a little after Derby lost a 114-96 shoot-out with the Birmingham Bullets the previous Saturday. "In fact," he said, "they were probably being a little too conservative." Nevertheless Derby led Hemel 57-39 before they staggered under the effects of Friday's game and a disproportionate foul count. LaKeith Humphrey steadied them with six successive free-throws and finished top scorer with 19 points. Manchester gained their first win of the season yesterday and held on to their newly established attendance record. They beat Birmingham 72-59 in front of 5,946 spectators at the NEC.

store future hope Huge hunger of Jalabert, Pavin great fighter ing run all round Oak Hill. But the US Open champion rightly sensed that tliis was not the nght moment. "Nick still had a putt, he said afterwards, "and I wanted him to have some quiet while he took it." But Pavin knew that the hole would now appear the size of a pinhead to Faldo. His putt was never easy, breaking a few inches from left to right, and he missed by several inches on the high side. That was an opportunity for bedlam.

The US captain, Lanny Wadkins, leaped in the air and rolled on the ground, and the whooping and hollering from all around was deafening. World peace had been announced or was it only a Ryder Cup point? A point it was. but what a point: Europe, who had led going into the singles ever since 1981, started yesterday with a two-point deficit. Even in Europe's great rally yesterday Pavin again was strong as his teammates weakened. Going twu up at the 12th against Burn-hard Longer, he completed a smooth 3 and 2 win to take his personal points tally to four out of five.

Pavin's Saturday shot had obliterated even a hole-in-one from Europe's undoubted star, Costantino Rocca. The Italian captivated everyone with his engaging character, and his childlike joy when his tee-shot found the hole at the short 6th whs captivating. To have three points out of five overall, given his disappointment in 1993. was a deserved bonus fur a charming man. Tennis Chesnokov lifts Russia into Davis Cup final ANDREI CHESNOKOV saved nine match points before beating Michael Stich 14-12 in the filth set of me de ciding rubber in Moscow yes terday to put Russia fnto me final of the Davis Cup.

His 6-4, 1-6. 1-6. 6 3. 14-12, vic tory nave Russia a 3-2 win over Germany. They will meet the United States.

3-1 victors yesterday over Sweden in Las Vegas, in the final on December 1. Sweden took the- doubles yesterday and Andre Agassi had to withdraw from the reverse singles against Thomas Enqvist with a "pulled pectoralis muscle" sustained on Friday in his victory against Mats Wi-lander. Todd Martin replaced Agassi and won the deciding rubber 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 against Thomas Enqvist. There was a withdrawal in the match in Moscow too. Boris Becker pulled out of the reverse singles with a sore back and the Russians sensed their chance of a second successive final.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov wore down Becker's stand-in Bernd Karbacher 6-1, 7-6, 6-2 in a baseline duel lasting just over two hours before Chesnokov's remarkable triumph in twice as long. The nine match points came when Stich was serving at 7-6. Almost an hour later Chesnokov, in his 12th Davis Cup year, bad raised the crowd of over 10,000 in the indoor Olympic Stadium to a cheering frenzy. As Stich hit long, after himself saving two match points, the Russian fell to his knees and held his head before his team-mates picked him up and tossed him in the air. "It was unbelievable what I did," Chesnokov said.

hi a World Group qualifying match in New Delhi Leander Paes, ranked 124th, come from two sets down to beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 and give India a winning lead of 3-1 against Croatia. Ivanisevic, ranked seventh, served 27 double faults. the New New Cannibal William Fotheringham on the all-round 9th, threading the ball through the trees but also straight across the fairway into the facing rough. A few minutes later, when he landed his first accurate drive of the day on the 10th fairway, there was no shortage of comedians in the gallery ready Josuggest Jhat now he was really in trouble. Inevitably he let the unfamiliar conditions affect him, biffing his apjggach sh.pt the sand.

An edge entered the match at that point, as the Spaniard refused to concede an 18-inch putt to his opponent, but the coolness seemed no more than momentary. Ballesteros had other things on his mind when he missed his par putt on the short 11th, giving Lehman a two-hole lead. But an altercation at the 12th almost sent the match off the rails. Both men were facing birdie putts on the plat tain Marc Delissen in the closing minutes, to deny England a draw. Delissen's strike was a remarkable reverse-stick shot right in the corner of the goal.

England's reply in the 43rd minute was scored with a very strong flick shot by Garcia from the third of their four corners. Though the scoreline was the same as in the European Cup semi-final between the teams, this was altogether a more impressive England performance. It gave heart for the future, especially as the Dutch team have been strengthened since Dublin. Bert Bunnik, the Dutch assistant coach, said after the game: "We are happy to win if only by one goal. We could have scored more." The Netherlands were the only winners on the opening day, with the two other games, between Germany and India and Pakistan and Australia, ending in draws.

Yesterday Germany beat the Netherlands 3-0 and Australia walloped India 6-2. Sailing Gilmouris too fast for Pace P1ETER G1LMOUR of Aus I tralia won the ACI Ronhill Cup for the third year in suc cession, beating the world match racing champion Her- trand Pace of France 2-1 in the final, writes Bob Fisher. Markus Wieser of Ger many, in defeating America's Ed Baird by a similar margin, took third place in the grand prix event at Rovinj, Croatia After losing the first race of the final, Gilmour trailed Pace by l'l minutes in the light winds but overtook him on the second run to level the scores. In the decider Gilmour, ranked No. 2 in the world, won by nearly two minutes.

and Ballesteros had finally run out ot tune. Oak Hill was never going to be Ins kind ot course. Too nar row, too unforgiving. His urivmg all week was appallingly inaccurate, but his pres ence illuminated the event, as it always does. Gallacher was right to keep him out of the foursomes, but the Spaniard shepherding of David Gilford during fourball helped deliver a precious point, lighting a lone candle during a dark and dismal afternoon tor the team.

Valderrama, another long and narrow course, may suit him no better, but his pres ence as captain when the Ryder Cup goes to Spain in 1997 would find few dis senters among those who followed him yesterday on his ultimately fruitless but still magical walk in the woods and put the five-times winner Indurain into a panic when he rode into a 10-minute lead during the Bastille Day stage, provisionally claiming the Spaniard's yellow jersey. The French loved the symbolism of it all "Ja Ja storms the Bastille" and it was only by calling in a host of past favours that Indurain received enough help from the other teams to bring the Frenchman under control. Ja Ja's fourth place overall in France was the platform for this month's Vuelta, as long and as mountainous as its French counterpart but with a slightly weaker field. Now El Yaya, he effectively won the race after eight days with a 40-mile lone attack across the Sierra de Credos mountains west of Madrid. The previous day Jalabert had come within a whisker of losing the maillot amarillo to Abraham Olano, the Spaniard mooted as Indurain's successor.

In a display of strength not seen since the days of the great Bernard Hinault, Jalabert finished five minutes ahead of Olano and the field. In last Sunday's tough circuit race around the Olympic hill of Montjuic in Barcelona, it took him only three attacks to dispose of the field in the final few miles. On Wednesday his fifth stage win came after a freezing rainy stage across the Pyrenees to the Luz Ardiden ski station. Whereas Indurain simply destroys the opposition with his machine-like ability to sustain speed up mountain passes, Jalabert clearly enjoys combining with his team to toy with the other riders as Hinault used to do. Next year the Olympics are open to professional riders and Jalabert aims to be the first man to win a gold medal for a one-day road race.

His face, as expressionless as Indurain's beneath the 1994 crash scars, fits that picture. tunately there was not quite enough skill in the forward line to break down the impressive Pakistan defence. England did have four corners and were denied a late equaliser only by a brilliant save, from the goalkeeper Mansoor Ahmad from Calum Giles. They had performed heart-eningly in holding the Netherlands, the European finalists, to 2-1 considering that only three of their players retained their European Cup positions. David Whitaker, England's coach, said: "It was a very tight game.

I was happy with everything but the result. We didn't deserve to lose." With Takher at centre-half, Nick Thompson at centre-forward, and Jason Lee and Russell Garcia filling the inside-forward roles, there was a much freer flaw forward and the youngsters Guy Fordham and Jon Wyatt did their jobs splendidly. It took two quality goals, by Stephan Veen just before the interval and the Dutch cap- obviously a good platform for the months ahead." Ebdon, who edged Hendry in the quarter-finals of the Masters at Wembley in February and the final of the Irish Masters the next month, led 3-2 before Hendry strung together six frames without reply to construct a virtually unassailable 8-3 advantage. Even though Ebdon restored some respectability to the score by winning the next two frames, a mil-scale recovery was beyond him and Hendry eventually secured the 55,000 first prize in style with a 104 break in the closing frame. Tour of Spain winner Instead, Jalabert forged ahead in a lone attack which was to give him overall victory in the race.

Two weeks later came the Milan-San Remo, the season's first one-day classic. Here a pattern was set which was to be repeated over and over during the season: Jalabert's team, sponsored by the Spanish equivalent of the Royal National Institute for the Blind, set a scorching pace until he judged it time to deliver the coup de grace. The next barrier was crossed in the Tour de France, where Jalabert had to decide whether to aim for the top sprinter's points jersey or the overall maillot-Jaune classification a journey into the unknown for a man who had failed to finish the race in the previous two years. In the end he went for both, Jalabert Olympic goal power of yesterday's THE notion that Laurent Jalabert would return to dominate his sport for much of 1995 Miguel Indur-ain permitting would have seemed laughable 14 months ago when he was carried away from the Tour de France first stage, concussed and covered in blood after a 40mph run-in crash. But yesterday in Madrid the 26-year-old Frenchman completed an inevitable win in the 21-day Tour of Spain to round off a European season which he has taken more than 20 victories, in every kind of race from mass sprints to one-day classics and, now, his first major tour.

With Jalabert's Belgian team-mate Johan Bruyneel taking third place overall, the jubilant Once riders finished together yesterday in a wall of yellow shirts, safely tucked up in the peloton behind the final-stage winner, Marcel Wust of Germany, after eight laps of the capital's Paseo de la Castellana avenue. No rider since Ireland's Sean Kelly has won so much in so many different ways in one year. Kelly was nicknamed the New Cannibal, his hunger for victory rated with that of Eddy Merckx, the original Cannibal; now Jalabert is the New New Cannibal. Jalabert has transformed himself from what the French call a roulier-sprinter a fast man who can get over the hills into an all-rounder cauable of dominating on any terrain. That much became clear in March when he rode into the decisive escape dur ing the first major stage-race of the year, the Paris-Nice.

In such a situation a sprinter will usually sit back confident that his finishing kick will ensure a stage win. Fine start for Hendry as he gains revenge over Ebdon Cllve Everton STEPHEN HENDRY captured the 55th title of his career and won the Regal Scottish Masters for a third time by beating Peter Ebdon 9-5 In the final of the 165,000 invitation event in Motherwell last night. "It's a great way to start the season in a number of respects," said Hendry, who had lost his previous two matches against the Londoner. "I don't think I've ever felt better about my game at this stage of the year and this is.