Gustafson holds on

Sweden's Sophie Gustafson survived a nerve-wracking final day to win the Weetabix British Women's Open yesterday at Royal Birkdale.

With a birdie at the last in a final-round 75, the 26-year-old Swede - who had started the day seven ahead - finished on 10-under-par 282 and won the £120,000 first prize by two shots from Lancashire's Kirsty Taylor, Americans Becky Iverson and Meg Mallon and Sweden's Liselotte Neumann.

Gustafson opened with a magnificent eagle-three from three feet at the 440-yard first.

But she then double-bogeyed the second and almost threw it all away by dropping three shots in a row from the seventh as a host of rivals snapped up birdies in the almost windless conditions.