Home hope Hanson holds on

Hanson: first win for three years

SAS Masters
Final leaderboard
GB&Ire unless stated
-9 P Hanson (Swe)
-8 N Dougherty
-8 P Edberg (Swe)
-7 P Broadhurst
-7 S Walker
-7 G Orr

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Peter Hanson survived a late wobble to claim the SAS Masters by a shot from fellow Swede Pelle Edberg and England's Nick Dougherty.

Hanson moved four shots clear with eight holes to go and held on to win despite bogeys at 16 and 17.

He becomes the first Swede to win the event since Jesper Parnevik 10 years ago, while the 266,660 euros fisrt prize moves him onto the fringes of Ryder Cup qualification.

The 30-year-old Hanson's only previous European Tour victory in 174 starts came in Spain three years ago.

For 26-year-old Liverpudlian Dougherty it meant a runner-up finish in the event for the second year running.

The Ryder Cup hopeful tweaked his back during the night and in trying to warm up in the gym it got only worse.

"What a day. If my chiropractor had been here he might have told me to pull out, so I'm glad he wasn't," said Dougherty. "After all I've been through I was going to finish no matter what."

In touch

He earned just under 140,000 euros and although he stays 14th in the cup race, he is now in much closer touch with just two events to go.

Hanson, meanwhile, moves up from 24th to 17th and will play in this week's KLM Open in Holland rather than taking a break because he still has an outside chance of making the team.

"It feels great, of course," he said. "It's been a long wait for me. I started pretty well, but then struggled on the back nine the same as yesterday."

Despite dropping four shots on the back nine, Hanson remained one ahead on the final tee and a superb iron to the heart of the green proved the decisive shot after Edberg had just failed to hole from long range.

German Martin Kaymer finished in joint 14th place after a closing 69 and is now little more than 250 euros behind 10th-placed Soren Hansen in the cup standings.

Hansen took the week off, as did ninth-placed Oliver Wilson.

Challenge

"It sounds weird, but I don't feel the pressure," said Kaymer. "I just see it as a challenge and it's fun to be in this position trying to make others angry. It's getting really tight, but I'm enjoying it."

Chris Wood's professional debut ended in a tie for 18th after a closing 72, earning him around 20,000 euros. The 20-year-old from Bristol, fifth in the Open last month, also has invites for this week's event in Holland, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and next month's British Masters at the Belfry. He needs to earn around 200,000 euros to avoid a trip to qualifying school at the end of the season.