Scandinavian Masters: Luke Donald yesterday cruised to his first European Tour title in the Scandinavian Masters to enhance his claims for a Ryder Cup wild card.
The Englishman carded a final-round 69 for a 16-under-par total of 272 at Barseback, five shots clear of Swedish pair Peter Hanson and Henrik Stenson.
Colin Montgomerie, furious after bogeys at the last two holes, and Ian Poulter shared fourth place on nine under after closing rounds of 67 and 65 respectively.
Ireland's Ryder Cup aspirants lost ground on the run-in, Paul McGinley carding 73 to finish six under and slip from a promising tied-ninth place on Saturday to tied-20th, and Graeme McDowell shooting the same number to end up tied-36th on one under par.
But another Irishman, Peter Lawrie, produced the round of the day, carding six birdies and an eagle in an eight-under-par 64, and racing through the field to share eighth place and pick up 30,000 in prizemoney.
Damien McGrane shot another steady round of 72 to finish tied-31st on two under.
Donald (26) collected the first prize of 266,000 and a two-year exemption and gave European captain Bernhard Langer a timely reminder of his abilities ahead of the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills in September.
He is still well outside the automatic qualifying places but is a strong contender for one of the two wild cards available to Langer - with Montgomerie expected to receive the other when the team is announced at the end of the month.
"This opens up a lot for me and gives my chances of making the Ryder Cup a great boost," said Donald, whose Walker Cup record of seven wins in eight matches could be a major factor in Langer's decision.
"I was hoping I would be in his mind before this week but this is obviously going to help my chances of a wild card. In an ideal world I would like to play myself into the team and this has brought me a lot closer. There is no reason why I can't play myself into the team via the USPGA, NEC Invitational and BMW International."
Based in Chicago after graduating from the city's Northwestern University, Donald won his first US Tour title in 2002 in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, which was reduced to 54 holes because of weather.
"I took that win but this is so much more satisfying," added Donald. "It gives me a lot of confidence that come Sunday and under pressure I was able to win.
Starting the final round three shots ahead of Hanson, Donald was never less than two shots ahead, although he struggled to reproduce the form of the first three days.
A 50-foot birdie putt on the sixth steadied any nerves and after a bogey on the eighth he crucially saved par from 15 feet on the 11th while Hanson bogeyed.
Birdies on the 13th, again from long distance, and 14th then gave him a more comfortable lead and he finished in style with another birdie on the 18th.
There was nothing remotely stylish about Montgomerie's finish, the Scot finding sand on the 17th to bogey and then driving into the trees on the dogleg 18th.
He was fortunate to find a good lie but hit his approach over the green and after a poor chip tossed his glove away in disgust, followed soon after by his visor after the par putt also went astray.
The seven-time former European number one eventually regained his composure enough to take the positives from his performance, and feels he is swinging as well as he did five years ago.
"I was thinking about my swing in 1999 when I won here by nine shots and if I could do that then I can do it now," said the 41-year-old. "And it worked. I just made a couple of stupid errors on the last."
