Maarten Lafeber became the first home player to win the Dutch Open for 56 years when he claimed his maiden European Tour title at Hilversum yesterday.
Lafeber recorded a final round of 67 for a 13-under-par total of 267 to win by a stroke from Denmark's Soren Hansen and Swede Mathias Gronberg. Ireland's Gary Murphy finished tied sixth, four shots back at 271, after a final round of level-par 70.
"I wanted to win so badly over the last few months and to win here means so much to me, the support was unbelievable and it's a dream come true," said Lafeber.
Although the 28-year-old Dutchman from nearby Amsterdam trailed overnight leader Hansen by three strokes early in the final round, he fought back to gain an emotional victory in front of a tumultuous gallery.
Hansen's advantage was wiped out at the ninth hole, which he double-bogeyed in a three-shot swing with Lafeber, who birdied the hole to set up the €166,660 first victory for the Dutchman.
The last time a Dutch player won the title was in 1947 when Joop Ruhl prevailed at Eindhoven - by coincidence Lafeber's birthplace.
It was a long-overdue success for Lafeber, who was the second Dutch winner of the year after Robert-Jan Derksen took the Dubai Desert Classic title in early March and the third for the country on the European Tour, Rolf Muntz being the other Netherlands champion.
Lafeber had been knocking on the door for the past two years and finished fourth in his last tournament, the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
He achieved his success with a faultless final round of three birdies and no dropped shots after trailing Hansen, who was looking for his second title to go with last year's Irish Open success, by a stroke overnight.
The Dutchman has been working with world number two Ernie Els's sports psychologist, Jos Vanstiphout, all year and he praised the Belgian for his advice.
"Jos said 'just stay patient and don't get ahead of yourself', and when I was three strokes behind I remembered the message."
Hansen battled back well following his errors and still had a chance to force a play-off if he could have holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th.
The Dane was gracious in defeat, saying: "I'm glad for Maarten because his win has been due for a long time."
Gronberg's 65 gave him a chance of a fourth victory but the Swede's three-putt from 30 feet to only par the long 12th proved costly.
Meanwhile, Gronberg had mixed emotions after a closing 65, which contained two bogeys and a three-putt par on the 12th as he chased his second victory of the season.
"I was not even thinking about winning the tournament this morning," said Gronberg. "I was hoping to shoot five or six under and see what would come with that.
"I'm very happy to shoot five under but slightly disappointed to have a three-putt and two bogeys with a seven and eight iron in my hand.
"When you're standing there on 16 with an eight iron in your hand you're thinking birdie not bogey, and I was trying to hole that putt on the 12th for eagle but these things happen."
Murphy, too, let a promising position slip. Having fought his way into contention for the title with birdies at the sixth and seventh to get to 11 under, a double bogey at the par-three 10th stopped him in his tracks.
A further bogey at the par four 14th was offset by a closing two-putt birdie at the par-five 18th.
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