England’s Paul Waring won his first European Tour title at his 200th attempt with victory at the Nordea Masters in Gothenburg.
The 33 year old from Birkenhead, who turned pro in 2007, held a two-shot lead with four holes to play, before playing partner Thomas Aiken birdied the last to force extra holes. However, South Africa’s Aiken drove into the water on the first hole of the sudden-death play-off, with Waring’s par good enough to secure victory.
Waring and Aiken both shot two-under 68s to finish on 14 under par, a shot ahead of Max Kieffer, who carded a five-under 65 in the final round.
“I wasn’t sure this day would come in total honesty,” he said. “I’m obviously ecstatic. I’ve tried so hard for many years to get to this point, and it’s nice to finally get across the line and be holding the trophy.”
Thorbjorn Olesen continued his fine run of form to finish fourth in and move ahead of Ian Poulter in the race to qualify automatically for Europe’s Ryder Cup team.
Nordea Masters Final Scores (top 20)
266 P Waring (Eng) 66 63 69 68, T Aiken (RSA) 66 65 67 68
267 M Kieffer (Ger) 68 68 66 65
268 T Olesen (Den) 68 66 67 67
269 L Herbert (Aus) 66 68 69 66
271 H Porteous (RSA) 72 67 67 65, R Rock (Eng) 70 69 65 67, A Pavan (Ita) 69 66 72 64, J Janewattananond (Tha) 67 68 72 64
272 M Southgate (Eng) 67 73 65 67, L Slattery (Eng) 64 69 70 69, A Johnston (Eng) 70 68 68 66
273 A Bland (Aus) 67 67 69 70, S Gros (Fra) 71 64 69 69, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 68 68 67, T Detry (Bel) 66 72 68 67
274 N Bertasio (Ita) 70 68 66 70, C Sordet (Fra) 62 72 71 69, R Karlsson (Swe) 67 71 68 68, M Warren (Sco) 70 65 66 73