Henrik Stenson on Sunday sealed a second BMW International Open title in Germany, after recovering from a mid-round wobble to win by three shots.
The Swede went into the final round with a one-stroke lead over Dane Thorbjorn Olesen, finishing strongly to reach 17-under-par and hold off the chasing pack.
It was a 10th European Tour title for a player who is regarded by many peers and pundits as one of the best to have never won a major and a first since his second World Tour Championship win two seasons ago in Dubai.
“It was hairy all the way, it was a tough one,” said Stenson, who also won the 2006 edition of the event. “I had to dig deep to come back. I didn’t play well on the front nine, made a couple of mistakes.”
“I felt like I was starting to make a bit of a mess of it and then I came back and made the birdies on the par fives,” he said.
When Stenson birdied the opening hole, a runaway victory looked likely, but the world No. 7 stuttered around the turn with three bogeys in five holes from the sixth.
That allowed South Africa’s Darren Fichardt to draw level at the top of the leaderboard, but a bogey on the final hole gave the world No. 348 a clubhouse leading mark of only 14-under-par after a fourth-round 69.
For most of the day, Olesen looked the most likely to hang onto Stenson’s coattails, but the talented 26-year-old made too many mistakes in a one-over-par round of 73 to finish in a tie for second with Fichardt.
Stenson, 40, took advantage with three birdies in five holes to card a 71, as he closed out the title for the first time in his past three attempts after following up a playoff defeat in this tournament in 2014 with another runner-up effort last year.
Sergio Garcia, another player known as one of golf’s perennial “nearly-men,” soared into contention with an eagle on the par-five 13th hole dragging him to within two shots of the lead.
However, in trademark fashion, the unpredictable Spaniard double-bogeyed the next hole and ended up in a tie for fifth place.
Defending champion Pablo Larrazabal could not quite launch a bid to become the first player to win the tournament three times and had to settle for a tie at ninth.
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