ENGLAND'S Barry Lane and miracle man Seve Ballesteros gave Europe's

Ryder Cup hopes the best possible lift yesterday high up in the Swiss

Alps.

Lane, three weeks away from his cup debut, holed a 30-foot birdie putt

on the penultimate green and won the #102,000 first prize in the Canon

European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.

Ballesteros, in his best performance since March last year, finished

only a stroke behind along with fellow Spaniard, Miguel Jimenez -- after

having pulled out a last-hole birdie which will be recalled for ever

more by those who saw it.

His breathtaking 3 at the 377-yard eighteenth came after he had

birdied the sixteenth and seventeenth and set up a dramatic climax. He

carved his drive off the final tee horribly and the ball came to rest

six feet from a seven-foot high swimming pool wall. The wall was between

him and the green, 130 yards away, and there seemed no option but to

chop back out on to the fairway.

Caddie Billy Foster told Ballesteros as much, but the three times Open

Champion had other ideas. ''I like to keep going forwards,'' he said

afterwards. ''When you try something, you either make it or you don't. I

needed a 3 to have a chance of winning.''

He crouched down and decided he just had enough room to hit over the

wall. ''Looking back, I know it was risky. A few years ago I tried the

same in the US PGA, hit the wall, and nearly killed myself.''

This time, though, he executed the shot perfectly. The ball soared

through the air, landed just short of the green, and, from 18 yards,

this incomparable golfer chipped in.

The roar was so loud that Lane heard it on the green at the par 5

fifteenth and assumed that Ballesteros had holed his second shot for an

eagle. The scoreboard told him it was only a birdie and, when Lane took

two putts for a birdie of his own, he was back in front.

Lane, feeling more nervous than he could ever remember, took three

putts at the sixteenth, and when he drove into rough on the next,

Ballesteros's hopes of a first win for 17 months were still alive. But

the 33-year-old Berkshire player then rammed in the long putt to go back

in front.

Jimenez was now the main danger but, after Lane had just missed from

20 feet on the last, the Malaga golfer, who had begun the day two ahead,

pulled his seven-foot attempt wide as he tried to force a play-off.

Lane won with an 18-under-par total of 270. Ballesteros returned a

best-of-the-day 66, and Jimenez a 73. A stroke further behind in fourth

place was Swede Per-Ulrik Johansson.

Lane, whose last victory was in the German Masters last October, said:

''It feels magnificent to win again so close to the cup place. I didn't

putt well, but that one on the seventeenth made up for the misses.''

Ballesteros added: ''I make more miracle shots than anybody else

because I try harder than anybody else and take more risks.''

* LEADING places in the Volvo European Tour Order of Merit after the

Canon European Masters (British or Irish unless stated):

1, N Faldo #393,703; 2, B Langer (Germany) #365,494.64; 3, P Baker

#345,989.17; 4, C Montgomerie #345,022; 5, C Rocca (Italy) #337,083.98;

6, S Torrance #296,721.52; 7, I Woosnam #289,005.41; 8, M James

#278,397.67; 9, J Haeggman (Sweden) #264,715.84; 10, B Lane #262,941.80;

11, R Rafferty #227,744.32; 12, F Nobilo (New Zealand) #227,208.76; 13,

P Broadhurst #225,510.17; 14, J M Olazabal (Spain) #215,988.14; 15, D

Gilford #208,554.64; 16, J Parnevik (Sweden) #204,462.56; 17, G Brand,

Jr #198,803.27; 18, A Forsbrand (Sweden) #194,673.05; 19, G Turner (New

Zealand) #191,226.56; 20, W Westner (South Africa) #181,736.32.