NEWS

Hanson eagles final hole to win KLM Open over Ramsay and Larrazabal

By PGA.com news services
Published on
Hanson eagles final hole to win KLM Open over Ramsay and Larrazabal

HILVERSUM, Netherlands -- Peter Hanson of Sweden eagled the final hole to win the KLM Open, his first title in two years.

Hanson holed a 35-footer on the 18th green Sunday for a final-round 67 to win by two strokes with a 14-under 266 at the Hilversumsche Golf Club.

Spain's Pablo Larrazabal (70) and Scotland's Richie Ramsay (67) shared second place at 12 under.

Hanson's victory is the fifth in succession for a member of the European Ryder Cup team on either the European Tour or PGA Tour since qualifying ended last month.

The win was Hanson’s fifth on the European Tour, and was all the more impressive as he came close to withdrawing from the event after his one-year-old son Tim was hospitalized with a respiratory virus on Friday. Having received positive news on his child's condition, Hanson opted to continue.

"I'm very happy. I'm still feeling for Tim of course, but he's getting better and better, so I'm very happy about that," he said. "It was especially hard yesterday, with having him in the hospital on Friday night. I didn't sleep a lot.

"Yesterday was very tough, but I kind of calmed down a little bit yesterday evening when I heard he was over the worst of it."

Hanson's form will delight European Ryder Cup Captain Jose Maria Olazabal, with less than three weeks to wait before the match against the United States at Medinah.

Overnight co-leader Larrazabal tied for second after a level-par 70, with Ramsay joining him after a 3-under 67.

Larrazabal looked set to claim the title after Hanson, who was one behind at the time, drove into the trees at the 16th. However, Hanson recovered for a par, while on the same hole Larrazabal made a bogey as they went into the final two holes level.

Both parred the penultimate hole before Hanson's lengthy putt on the last placed the pressure firmly on Larrazabal. He could only manage a par, and two birdies in the last two from Ramsay meant they shared second place.

Scotland's Scott Jamieson finished a further two strokes back, while England's Graeme Storm and Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, the other players to share top spot overnight, tied for fifth with Henrik Stenson on 9 under. At one stage yesterday, Storm had held a five-stroke lead.

Stenson had two eagles and three bogeys in a 69, but it was Richard Finch who enjoyed the round of the day. The Englishman moved to 7 under for a share of 12th place courtesy of a 64, containing a holed bunker shot for birdie at No. 4, an eagle at 12 and a stunning double-eagle 2 on the last.