Levet conquers vertigo to scale heights again

Thomas Levet completed a dream comeback from a nightmare battle with vertigo to win the Open de Andalucia in a play-off with teenager Oliver Fisher.

Essex boy Fisher, 19, narrowly failed to become the European Tour's fifth youngest winner when he lost to a par by the fun-loving Frenchman at the first tie hole.

Fisher blasted a three-iron through the fairway and into water at the 18th and bogeyed as Levet sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the short 17th .

Both shot 67s to tie on 16-under-par but on their return to the 18th in the play-off, Levet made his par as Fisher took a four iron this time but pushed into a bunker and bogeyed again.

Defending champion Lee Westwood was third three shots back, having played his last 11 holes in a disappointing three over par.

Fisher said: "I would have loved to win, but I am sure there will be more chances.

"On the final hole I just turned it over a little bit and it pitched 15 to 20 yards short of the water. As soon as you get it going on the wind it goes miles.

"The second time was always going to be a little hard after doing that.”

Levet, 39, lost a play-off with ernie Els for the 2002 Open at Muirfield and played in the 2004 Ryder Cup side that won in Detroit.

But he lost his form in 2006 finishing 184th on the Order of Merit and 79th in 2007 as vertigo took hold.

Savouring his first win fo four years he described his battle with vertigo in graphic detail.

He said: "Imagine being in a car that is spinning for 45 minutes - or a hamster spinning on its wheel, except I'm not the hamster, I'm the wheel."

Levet added: "I was just happy to be standing up. When you play the Ryder Cup two years before and then are trying to keep your card it's a low goal, but when you see what I've been through it's a tough goal.

"Now I've got a card for at least the next two years. It was an unbelievable battle today and it just shows you that it's never over until it's over. We've seen it so many times."

Consistent Peter Lawrie closed with a 69 to finish as the leading Irishman in joint 19th on five under.

But Damien McGrane and Rory McIlroy both had disappointing 74s to slip back into the back.

McGrane fell from 17th overnight to 32nd on three under while McIlroy had another poor day on the greens as he finished tied 39th on two under.

The Ulster teen, 18, three-putted twice in the final round to bring his tally for the week to seven.

Collated final-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
272 Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 68 68 67(Thomas Levet won on the first play-off hole), Oliver Fisher 70 68 67 67
275 Lee Westwood 65 73 66 71
276 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 70 69 68 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 70 68 69
278 Robert Dinwiddie 72 65 75 66, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 69 69 71
279 Markus Brier (Aut) 71 72 66 70, David Lynn 70 67 68 74
280 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 73 69 70 68, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 72 72 71 65
281 Matthew Millar (Aus) 67 69 72 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 72 70 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 69 71 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 67 70 75
282 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 70 76 68, Ariel Canete (Arg) 70 73 72 67, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 68 72 71 71
283 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 67 69 73, Joost Luiten (Ned) 74 65 72 72, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 68 69 76, Danny Willett 66 75 72 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 72 70 69, Peter Lawrie 72 72 70 69
284 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 68 71 74 71, Alastair Forsyth 70 70 70 74, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 73 71 71 69, David Frost (Rsa) 72 70 68 74, Simon Dyson 71 68 74 71, Pablo Martin (Spa) 70 70 74 70, Bradley Dredge 70 68 71 75
285 Anthony Wall 72 71 74 68, Damien McGrane 68 72 71 74, Stephen Gallacher 74 68 74 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 74 68 73, Paul Lawrie 78 66 73 68, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 71 71 71 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 74 69 70 72
286 Richard Bland 70 71 72 73, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 73 69 72 72, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 72 70 74 70, Rory McIlroy 68 73 71 74, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 71 73 73 69, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 73 71 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 71 70 74
287 Lee Slattery 72 68 72 75, Garry Houston 75 69 75 68, David Griffiths 71 71 69 76
288 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 69 72 74 73, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 66 72 76 74, Peter Whiteford 73 69 75 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 74 72 73, John Bickerton 72 71 73 72
289 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 71 72 74, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 68 75 72, Sion Bebb 73 69 76 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 71 69 78, Jamie Donaldson 70 70 75 74, Phillip Archer 72 72 72 73, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 73 71 74 71
290 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 72 71 76, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 73 69 72 76, Gary Orr 71 72 76 71
291 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 74 69 74 74
292 Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 70 76 77, Florian Praegant (Aut) 69 73 72 78
294 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 74 70 80 70
296 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 74 70 69 83
297 Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 73 71 76 77