Denmark&aposs Soren Hansen soared to his second European Tour title on the back of two eagles in the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Germany. Hansen chipped in from 40ft on the 13th and then holed from 12ft on the 15th on his way to a final round of 67 and 17-under-par total of 271 at Gut Larchenhof. The Monte Carlo-based 33-year-old claimed the first prize of $358,000 after finishing four shots ahead of England&aposs Phillip Archer and Scotland&aposs Alastair Forsyth (70). Archer, who lost a play-off in the Omega European Masters seven days ago, carded a closing 68 to also book his place in the Seve Trophy at the end of the month. Joint overnight leader Thomas Bjorn and Wales&apos Bradley Dredge were a further stroke behind in fourth with Lee Westwood, four clear after an opening 61, sharing sixth place on 11 under. A steady performer since joining the European Tour in 1999, Hansen won the Irish Open in a play-off in 2002 but had never previously produced the consistent performances of this season. After two second places and a third in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles a fortnight ago, today&aposs win lifted him to seventh in the Order of Merit and second in the early Ryder Cup standings. “Throughout the week I played tremendous, the best golf I&aposve ever played,” he said. “I had a really good feeling coming into this event and I&aposm very proud to have beaten 77 of the best players in Europe.” “It&aposs been a tremendous summer with two seconds and a third, I&aposve been knocking on the door for a long time and this week was the one for me.” “I was hitting the ball well and had a great touch on the greens, which were superb. The putts were screaming to be holed.” Hansen and fellow Dane Bjorn shared the lead going into the final day and Bjorn briefly led after birdies at the first and second before a bogey on the fifth and double bogey at the next. Two birdies took Hansen to the turn in 34 and he moved three clear of the field by chipping in from the edge of the green on the 13th for an eagle. The 2002 Irish Open winner then effectively sealed victory in style with another eagle on the 15th when his three-wood approach from 273 yards to the par five took a friendly bounce to skip round the edge of a bunker and rolled up to 12ft from the hole. Final Round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, (Par 72): -17 Soren Hansen 65 68 71 67 -13 Phillip Archer 71 70 66 68, Alastair Forsyth 76 67 62 70 -12 Thomas Bjorn 71 67 66 72, Bradley Dredge 68 71 70 67 -11 Simon Khan 67 70 69 71, Soren Kjeldsen 73 67 72 65, Lee Westwood 61 73 72 71 -10 Paul Lawrie 68 70 71 69, Richard Sterne 67 73 68 70 -9 Niclas Fasth 67 71 69 72, Graeme McDowell 69 72 69 69 -8 Johan Edfors 70 71 72 67, Mikko Ilonen 68 70 72 70, Robert Karlsson 70 71 70 69 Also: -6 Richard Green (Australia) 73 67 66 76 +3 Peter O&aposMalley (Australia) 70 76 72 73 +6 Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 77 73 72 72
Author: