Denmark's Thomas Bjorn won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles after a five-man play-off.
Veteran birdies 18 three times in a row to emerge triumphant
Denmark's Thomas Bjorn won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles after a five-man play-off.
Bjorn won at the fifth extra hole to leave England's Mark Foster, Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal and South African George Coetzee sharing second place.
All five men finished four rounds on 11-under-par and Wiesberger was first to drop out of the play-off after carving his drive left on the 18th and making a bogey six. The other four all made par.
Back to the 18th tee they went and next it was Larrazabal to go after he made six, taking three from the fringe.
There was a variation at the third attempt at 18, as the three survivors all hit wedges inside four feet and made birdie fours.
But Foster's chance was quickly gone when he drove into the thick stuff and took six, Coetzee bravely holing a 12-footer for birdie to stay alive.
But Bjorn finally prevailed when he fired an eight iron to three feet and won with his third straight birdie at 18.
It was a second European Tour victory of the year for the resurgent 40-year-old, after his win in Qatar in February, and the 12th of his career.
Foster had earlier blown a three-shot lead after settling for a level-par round of 72.
Pressure
The Englishman, who had failed to convert winning chances on three seperate occasions earlier in the season, once again struggled under pressure as he failed to make a single birdie all day.
However, an eagle on the second had helped to propel him into the lead after playing partner Ignacio Garrido, with whom he held a three-shot overnight lead, quickly backed out of contention with four bogeys from the third.
But Foster failed to convert excellent birdie opportunities on the front nine and the putter remained cold coming home, dropping his first shot of the day at the 12th.
Not that there was too much pressure coming from behind. Bjorn briefly joined him on 12-under with a birdie at the 16th but he quickly gave it back at the next to join the growing group on -11.
Foster knew what he needed down the last - a par five - but immediately he put himself behind the eight-ball with a drive that veered right into the trees. He was only able to advance the ball 30 yards and, having failed to find the fairway, opted to lay-up with his third.
The chip left him 25 feet for the tournament but he left it woefully short, so much so that he did well under the circumstances to hole out from three feet to secure his place in the play-off.
Scotland's Stephen Gallacher finished one shy of the play-off after failing to birdie either the 16th or the 18th, returning a 69 to finish alongside Joel Sjoholm of Sweden.
