Pettersson holds nerve to win by one

US TOUR CANADIAN OPEN:CARL PETTERSSON held his nerve to claim the Canadian Open title after long-time leader Dean Wilson saw his challenge fall apart over the final round at St George's.

Overnight leader Wilson came into the last day with a four-stroke lead after three successive 65s had taken him to 15 under par, but a damaging 72 over the final round opened the door for Swede Pettersson to take the title by one stroke at 14 under.

England’s Luke Donald finished in third place on 12 under after a four-under 66.

Pettersson’s three-under 67 was a world away from his tournament-record 10-under-par 60 in the third round, a score which hauled him from the brink of the cut to a share of second place overnight, but was sufficient to secure him his fourth PGA Tour victory.

“I still can’t believe I won the tournament,” Pettersson told www.pgatour.com. “I know it’s difficult to shoot another low one after a round like that, so I was just trying to downplay it.

Two bogeys over the first seven holes left Pettersson trailing Wilson by six, but a run of six birdies over seven holes around the turn brought him back into the hunt.

American Wilson just managed one birdie on his final round, which combined with bogeys at eight, 12 and 14 left him at two-over and just short of overall victory.

Pettersson could even afford a bogey at the last after seeing Wilson sink his fourth straight par. “I felt like I handled it well coming in,” added Pettersson, who made the cut by just one stroke after carding 71 and 68 on the opening two rounds.

Behind Donald in third came a group of nine players in a tie for fourth, among them Bob Estes (71), Tim Clark (71), Greg Chalmers (65), Michael Letzig (65), Matt Kuchar (67) and Bryce Molder (70).

CANADIAN OPEN(at St George's Golf and Country Club, Toronto, Ontario): Leading final scores (USA unless stated, par 70): 266 – Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 68 60 67; 267 – Dean Wilson 65 65 65 72; 268 – Luke Donald (Eng) 69 66 67 66; 270 – Bryce Molder 70 67 63 70, Michael Letzig 66 70 69 65, Charley Hoffman 65 71 69 65, Jeff Quinney 71 66 64 69, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 66 69 70 65, Matt Kuchar 70 67 66 67, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69 68 67 66, Bob Estes 66 67 66 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 66 64 69 71.