Snappers put Clark off game

Britain's Howard Clark just failed to win his first tournament since 1988 when he was beaten by Peter Teravainen in the Chemapol Czech Open at Marianske Lazne yesterday.

Clark led by a shot from the American when he reached the 16th tee but was put off by a dozen amateur photographers. Visibly distracted, Clark blocked his four-iron tee-shot out to the right, could not reach the green in two and bogeyed the hole.

Clark and Teravainen birdied the 17th but Clark then bogeyed the last when he needed a par four to force a play-off. At least Clark had the consolation of moving from 18th to seventh in the Ryder Cup points table.

Teravainen, who went round in 67, won with a four-round aggregate of 268, 16 under par, with Clark (69) on 269 followed by Ronan Rafferty (71) and Sweden's Peter Hedblom (69) in joint third place on 271.