GOLF New Zealand Open: Sweden's Niclas Fasth won his first European Tour event in five years by beating Miles Tunnicliff in a play-off in the Holden New Zealand Open yesterday. Fasth birdied the second extra hole to claim the €157,000 first prize after the pair had finished tied on 22-under-par 266 at Gulf Harbour.

The former Ryder Cup player had carded a superb closing 63 and looked certain of victory when Tunnicliff missed a short birdie putt on the 17th hole in the final round.

However, Tunnicliff recovered his composure to birdie the last and force sudden death, with the players returning to the 18th to decide the title.

Tunnicliff's approach on the first extra hole flew the green and hit a young female spectator, and the ball bounced off at almost 90 degrees into the rough. After checking to make sure the unfortunate girl would be okay, Tunnicliff managed to get up and down for par, as Fasth narrowly missed from 18 feet for birdie.

Both players found the green the second time around and, after Tunnicliff had missed from long range, Fasth holed from 12 feet for birdie to seal victory.

Ireland's two representatives had strong showings over the weekend. Damien McGrane closed with a 68 to finish on 15 under par and tied for seventh place to earn €22,485. And Peter Lawrie finished one shot further back after a 68 to collect €14,231.

Fasth, who finished second to David Duval in the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham to earn his place in the Ryder Cup, endured a miserable season last year on the US Tour, missing the cut in 12 of his 21 events and recording just one top-20 finish.

He lost his card after finishing 172nd on the money list and was ranked 155th in the world at the start of the week, but he demonstrated his potential with two top 10s on his visits to Europe.

"It feels really, really good," said the 32-year-old. "To win here is fantastic and it really gives me assurance that I'm going the right way with everything.

"I've felt good about things on and off, and especially lately I feel the last six months of work have paid off. But it's one thing to feel it, to actually win is big. You have to do something special to win a tournament."

Australian duo Richard Green and Simon Nash shared third place on 18 under par.