GOLF/Scottish PGA Championship: Soren Kjeldsen became the fifth Dane to win on the European Tour in little more than a year yesterday. The 28-year-old won the Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles by two strokes from Scot Alastair Forsyth, and with the €287,293 first prize leaps into seventh place on this season's Order of Merit.
It follows the victories last year by Anders and Soren Hansen, Thomas Bjorn and Steen Tinning to confirm Denmark as one of the emerging forces on a circuit which used to be dominated by British and Irish players.
Only 5ft 7in and 10½st - and also only 164th in the world - Kjeldsen produced a closing 72 to finish with a nine-under-par total of 279.
That was 17 more than Australian Adam Scott took when he triumphed by 10 last August, but that is largely explained by the ferocious winds encountered on the first two days and some pretty ferocious rough, too.
Londoner Chris Gane will testify to that. His 17 on the final hole in the second round was the second highest score in tour history - and four others hit double figures too.
It wasn't a great day for the remaining Irish competitors either. Graeme McDowell finished on 291 after a final round 72, while Philip Walton and Gary Murphy, four and five over par overnight respectively, both shot 77s to finish well down the field.
Kjeldsen did marvellously well, however, not to have a single double bogey all week, making 19 birdies and 10 bogeys.
The 19th was the key one. Having been brought back to only two in front, the World Cup player slotted in a 30-foot putt on the short 14th.
He drove into a bunker on the 463-yard next, but pitched superbly to three feet and, having missed from half that distance at the 12th, he made it for the first of four pars that buried the hopes of those chasing him.
"It's fantastic," said Kjeldsen, whose wife, Charlotte, is expecting their first child in three months. "I can't ask for anything more."
Forsyth, six weeks after his father had a triple heart by-pass operation, sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the last to push England's former Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst into third.
That made it Forsyth's best-ever pay-day, the €191,524 cheque being 30,257 more than he received for winning last year's Malaysian Open.
Broadhurst collected 107,907 - welcome indeed after two years which have ended with him at the tour qualifying school. That should not be necessary this November.
"I knew before I went out that third would probably be enough to get my card and I can relax now," he said. "Who knows, you might even see some good golf from me now. It's a lot of pressure off me."
Colin Montgomerie was fourth the day before his 40th birthday, and as soon as he finished he was heading home for a big party organised by his wife, Eimear.
The seven-time Order of Merit winner was disappointed not to be successful on home soil, of course, but he believes he has turned the corner after missing the cut on his last two starts in Europe.
Kjeldsen's outward 38 was seven more than he had taken in the third round and it brought his five-stroke lead down to two over Forsyth, with John Bickerton and Broadhurst three behind and Montgomerie four adrift.
Forsyth had a nine-foot chance on the 11th to narrow the gap to one, but after he missed Kjeldsen made a six-footer to be three in front.
Then Broadhurst, having birdied the seventh, eighth, 10th and 11th, had a 20-foot eagle opportunity at the 503-yard next to be one back, but had to settle for birdie.
They were given a real boost, however, when the Dane missed a putt of little more than 18 inches for birdie at the 12th.
Kjeldsen made up for his miss with his long putt at the 14th, and, in fact, that effectively killed off all his pursuers.
It was a disappointing day for both Scott and England's Paul Casey. Scott, winner by 10 at 26 under last August, had a closing 73 for two under, while Casey, winner in 2001, stays fourth on the Order of Merit after also scoring 73 for level par.
(British unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
279 - S Kjeldsen (Den) 72 68 67 72 (287,293).
281 - A Forsyth 70 73 69 69 (€191,524).
282 - P Broadhurst 73 68 71 70 (€107,907.41).
283 - C Montgomerie 72 73 69 69 (€86,188).
285 - R Muntz (Ned) 72 70 73 70, MA Martin (Spa) 74 70 70 71, S Gallacher 76 71 67 71 (61,710 each).
286 - J Bickerton 74 71 71 70, A Scott (Aus) 72 75 66 73 (40,853 each).
287 - S Dodd 72 71 75 69, R Jacquelin (Fra) 74 72 71 70, R Green (Aus) 74 75 68 70.
288 - N Colsaerts (Bel) 76 73 71 68, P Casey 76 71 68 73.
289 - A Raitt 75 71 72 71, B Kennedy (Aus) 70 72 74 73, S Webster 77 71 68 73.
290 - P Eales 74 74 73 69, P Golding 75 75 69 71, S Lyle 73 71 74 72, N Vanhootegem (Bel) 73 73 71 73, G Orr 75 68 72 75.
291 - D Orr 76 74 72 69, D Gilford 76 74 70 71, P Fowler (Aus) 77 73 69 72, G McDowell 74 77 68 72, I Pyman 71 74 73 73, F Delamontagne (Fra) 72 76 70 73, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 74 77 67 73, S Webster 76 72 69 74.
292 - P O'Malley (Aus) 76 74 71 71, G Rojas (Arg) 71 75 74 72, D Howell 77 70 73 72, P Baker 75 74 71 72, J Clement (Swi) 78 74 68 72, M Tunnicliff 78 69 72 73.
293 - J-F Lucquin (Fra) 73 77 75 68, M Mouland 75 74 75 69, J-F Remesy (Fra) 74 77 71 71, D Park 75 75 71 72, I Garbutt 76 76 69 72, S Wakefield 73 75 70 75.
294 - M McNulty (Zim) 75 75 72 72 .
295 - A Salto (Spa) 77 72 75 71, L Westwood 74 74 75 72, B Lane 74 75 73 73, D Fichardt (Rsa) 77 75 70 73, M Maritz (Rsa) 74 74 73 74, M James 76 75 70 74.
296 - B Mason 76 76 73 71, N Cheetham 73 71 79 73, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 76 75 71 74, F Andersson (Swe) 78 74 70 74, C Cevaer (Fra) 75 75 71 75, R Wessels (Rsa) 74 77 68 77, S Torrance 74 71 73 78.
297 - P Lawrie 77 71 76 73, G Clark 79 70 72 76, Z Scotland 72 78 71 76, P Walton 74 74 72 77.
298 - R Claydon 73 79 73 73, J Van Hauwe (Fra) 79 73 71 75, G Murphy 73 76 72 77.
299 - R Drummond 78 73 75 73, T Norret (Den) 78 73 71 77, I Giner (Spa) 71 72 75 81.
300 - P Fulke (Swe) 78 74 75 73, JM Arruti (Spa) 76 76 73 75, A Marshall 79 73 73 75, J Hugo (Rsa) 75 75 72 78.
301 - M Blackey 74 77 78 72, G Havret (Fra) 72 75 78 76, M Warren 70 75 75 81.
302 - M Roe 77 75 72 78, S Luna (Spa) 75 75 72 80.
303 - S Delagrange (Fra) 73 78 75 77, T Moore (Rsa) 76 75 74 78.
305 - P Archer 74 78 78 75.
311 - F Mann 74 76 84 77, A Mednick (Swe) 74 75 78 84.
312 - S Kammann (US) 75 77 79 81.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)