Scandinavian Masters:Finland's Mikko Ilonen yesterday claimed his second European Tour victory of the year in dramatic fashion in the Scandinavian Masters in Stockholm. Ilonen, who won the Indonesia Open in February, birdied the par-three 18th hole at Arlandastad to join Martin Kaymer on six under par as the young German looked on from the tee.
Kaymer then missed the green with his approach and was unable to save par, his weak chip failing to climb the steep slope up to the green and rolling halfway back down. The resulting double-bogey five dropped him back into a share of second place on four under with French pair Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and Christian Cevaer, local man Peter Hedblom and England's Nick Dougherty.
Ilonen, who collected the first prize of £180,000 (€264,683), looked to have blown his chances when he double bogeyed the par-three 16th after finding water with his tee shot. But he shrugged off missing a short birdie putt on the next to hole from five feet on the 18th for a closing 68 and it was Kaymer who eventually cracked under the pressure.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," said Ilonen. "If I had to pick one tournament to win, alongside the majors, it would be this one. You all saw the support we get from the crowds, it's something we don't get every week and I hope some other tournaments can learn from this. It's unbelievable for the players to be out there."
Best of the Irish was David Higgins who finished with a 69 (his third of the weekend) to finish four off the pace.
Dougherty's second place was his seventh top-10 of the season but the 25-year-old from Liverpool never threatened to claim his second European Tour victory. Playing alongside Ilonen, Broadhurst had hoped to mark the premature end to his season in style with a victory, but could only manage a closing 71 for a share of seventh place.
The 42-year-old's wife Lorraine is undergoing surgery next week and Broadhurst will take a long break to look after her and their four children.
A superb third-round 64 had dragged the former Ryder Cup player into contention on four under par but birdies at the sixth and 11th were cancelled out by bogeys on the ninth, 13th and 18th.
(British unless stated, Irish in bold)
274 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 67 72 67 68.
276 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 69 69 69 69, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 67 70 71 68, Nick Dougherty 68 69 69 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 67 68 68 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 71 68 69.
277 James Kingston (Rsa) 68 68 67 74, Corey Pavin (USA) 70 70 70 67, Paul Broadhurst 69 73 64 71.
278 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 69 72 68 69, David Higgins (Ire) 69 69 71 69.
279 Steve Alker (Nzl) 74 69 68 68, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 72 71 65, Scott Strange (Aus) 64 75 69 71, Peter Lawrie (Ire) 71 70 69 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 72 67 70, Sam Walker 65 70 72 72, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 67 74 67, Barry Lane 70 72 69 68.
280 Garry Houston 70 73 68 69, Paul Lawrie 68 72 72 68, Edward Rush 69 68 74 69.
281 Alan McLean 69 74 71 67, Santiago Luna (Spa) 72 70 69 70, Simon Dyson 69 71 72 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 70 73 68.
282 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 69 69 69 75, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 67 68 73 74, Stephen Gallacher 68 72 71 71, Tom Whitehouse 72 69 70 71, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 72 71 71 68.
283 Andrew Tampion (Aus) 72 70 67 74, Luis Claverie (Spa) 69 73 72 69, Richard McEvoy 71 67 76 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 71 72 70. 284 David Carter 73 68 71 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 72 71 71 70, Damien McGrane (Ire) 70 70 73 71, Phillip Archer 68 74 67 75, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 73 69 73 69, Miles Tunnicliff 72 70 72 70, Johan Axgren (Swe) 73 68 76 67. 285 Richard Bland 70 72 72 71, Jeff Sluman (USA) 70 71 72 72, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 67 73 72 73, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 71 69 70 75, Ian Garbutt 67 75 70 73, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 70 73 74 68 286 Gary Lockerbie 69 74 73 70, Gary Murphy (Ire) 68 75 71 72, Lee Slattery 70 72 73 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 76 66 70 74, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 69 73 75 69, Gary Emerson 73 70 75 68. 287 Fredrik Qvicker (Swe) 65 75 73 74, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 67 72 72 76, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 74 69 73 71, Simon Khan 70 71 73 73. 288 Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 69 71 72 76, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 71 71 74. 289 Lee S James 67 73 74 75, Andrew Marshall 72 71 77 69, David Bransdon (Aus) 71 67 76 75. 290 James Heath 71 71 71 77, Stephen Dodd 72 71 72 75, John Bickerton 72 70 74 74. 291 Shaun P Webster 69 72 78 72, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 74 78 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 72 71 70 78. 292 Simon Wakefield 69 72 77 74