NEWS

Luiten wins Lyoness Open by two over Bjorn, second European Tour win

By Associated Press
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Luiten wins Lyoness Open by two over Bjorn, second European Tour win

ATZENBRUGG, Austria -- Joost Luiten of the Netherlands won the Lyoness Open by two shots on Sunday for his second European Tour title.

After holding a three-stroke lead overnight, Luiten shot a 71 in the final round to finish at 17-under-par 271 on the Diamond Country Club course.

''It's a great feeling, it's been a great week,'' said Luiten, whose previous win came at the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia in November 2011, two months after finishing third here in Atzenbrugg.

The victory was Luiten's third European Tour top-10 finish of the season and 20th overall. The win will move him up from 137th to just inside the top 100 of the world rankings.

Thomas Bjorn of Denmark (68) finished second at 15 under, while Liang Wen-chong of China (66) and Romain Wattel of France (69) shared third, another stroke off the pace.

Luiten bogeyed the first hole but led throughout the day. His closest challengers after the third round, Spaniards Jorge Campillo (72) and Eduardo de la Riva (73), failed to threaten.

''It was a long day. It started off with a bogey but I hit the ball nice,'' Luiten said. ''I made some mistakes on the greens, I didn't make a lot of putts. Luckily I made a birdie on the 16th, and it's always nice to finish with par and par.''

At the event two years ago, Luiten also led for most of the final round, but bogeyed the last hole and finished third, trailing winner Kenneth Ferrie of England by one stroke. This time, the Dutchman had a solid finish to his round to keep Bjorn, who followed up Saturday's 64 with a 68, at a distance.

Before Luiten teed off on the 14th hole, play was suspended for an hour because of thunderclouds.

''At that time I wanted to play on, but I think it was good to have a break,'' Luiten said. ''I wasn't playing really well before the break, so I got some food and tried to focus again.''

Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger shot a 69 to finish 14th at 8 under. The Austrian dropped a shot at the last hole, which might have cost him a starting spot at the U.S. Open, which begins Thursday at Merion in Ardmore, Pa.

''The bogey on the 18th was very disappointing,'' said Wiesberger, who needed a top-10 finish to stand a reasonable chance of qualifying. ''I've just made too many mistakes the whole week.''