Hanson wins Czech Open play-off, boots Ryder Cup hopes

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Peter Hanson produced a brilliant putt to claim victory in a Czech Open three-way play-off against Gary Boyd and Peter Lawrie, moving into the all-important top nine of the European Ryder Cup team rankings in the process.

After all three players shot par on the first hole of the play-off, the Swede holed an 18-footer on the second - the 17th hole of the Prosper Golf Resort course in Čeladná - to secure the €333,330 prize money and give himself a great chance of playing in Colin Montgomorie’s team.

There is just one week for his rivals to secure a place in the top-nine, with Hanson, who was not even in the penultimate event of the year-long race until he received an invitation last Monday, looking comfortable at eight.

The result means at least one of Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald or Justin Rose will miss out on a spot in golf's premier team event.

The play-off was set up by brilliant performances from Boyd and Lawrie, who carded 68 and 66 respectively to unexpectedly put themselves into contention.

Their performance was so good that, going into his last three holes, Hanson, who was the overnight leader on 12 over par, was one shot behind them.

However, the 32-year-old held his nerve to birdie the 16th and move level with the duo, setting up the exciting finale.

Hanson, who had not bogeyed in 29 holes prior his final round, produced three in a row on the par four second, par three third and par four fourth as he made a disastrous start to his final round.

However, he showed great heart to birdie the fifth and move into the joint lead in the process, before Boyd birdied eight.

Determined not to be beaten, Hanson birdied the tenth to claim the outright lead on 11 under par, before a disastrous double bogey on the 12th allowed Lawrie to leapfrog him.

But after his birdie on the 16th, he went into the final hole knowing another would win him the tournament. A poor second shot meant he could only shoot par, though, setting up a thrilling finale.

Irishman Lawrie started the day six shots behind Hanson, who was 12 under par, but went on to produce a scintillating round to fire himself into the shake-up.

He had a magical run of four birdies and an eagle around the turn ensured he finished on ten under.

Little-known European Tour rookie Boyd, aiming to become the youngest winner of the event at 23 years and 322 days, was six shots behind going into the final day, but produced a brilliant display, especially on the front nine, to move into the joint lead.

The Englishman birdied five of his first eight holes to turn in 31, before three-putting the 11th as the tension built.

He repeated the mistake, three-putting again on the short 15th to hand the outright lead to Lawrie just as he made a three-foot par putt on the last for a ten under target.

However, he showed character which defies his years to produce the birdie he required to tie the lead on the 18th.

Meanwhile, Simon Dyson and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, who went into the final round with hopes of boosting their own chances of earning a place in Colin Montgomorie’s European team, were unable to mount any pressure on the leaders, finishing on eight under and seven under respectively.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
278 Peter Hanson (Swe) 67 70 67 74 (Peter Hanson won play-off at second hole), Gary Boyd 72 70 68 68, Peter Lawrie 70 68 74 66
279 Anthony Wall 70 69 73 67
280 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 72 71 69, Simon Dyson 70 69 69 72
281 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 70 67 73, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 68 73 70
282 Tano Goya (Arg) 67 72 74 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 72 70 68
283 Richard Bland 68 71 71 73, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 74 68 75 66
284 Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 71 72 67, Phillip Price 70 70 69 75 Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 69 74 69
285 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 70 73 71 71, Stephen Gallacher 74 68 68 75, David Lynn 73 72 68 72, Bradley Dredge 74 67 74 70
286 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 70 76 68, Richard Finch 69 73 71 73, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 73 65 72 76, Alastair Forsyth 74 70 73 69, Kenneth Ferrie 71 68 73 74
287 Steve Webster 72 69 73 73, Damien McGrane 74 72 71 70, Miles Tunnicliff 70 73 70 74, Ross McGowan 73 71 73 70
288 Marco Soffietti (Ita) 75 71 70 72, Anton Haig (Rsa) 70 72 74 72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 66 74 71 77, Marc Warren 70 71 75 72, Shane Lowry 75 64 77 72, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 74 69 78 67
289 Danny Lee (Nzl) 75 71 71 72, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 70 73 75 71, Peter Whiteford 79 67 74 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 73 72 70 74, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 70 77 72, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 69 69 76 75, Mark Foster 74 71 72 72, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 70 67 74 78
290 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 72 74 72, Oliver Wilson 72 72 74 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 73 72 74 71, Steven O'Hara 76 70 74 70, Michael Hoey 70 72 73 75
291 Jamie Elson 75 69 71 76, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 70 76 76, Sion E Bebb 73 73 69 76
292 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 78 68 74 72, Stephen Dodd 72 69 75 76, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 69 73 76 74, Jamie Donaldson 72 72 75 73, Pablo Martin (Spa) 74 68 78 72
293 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 74 76 73, Scott Drummond 72 74 74 73
294 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 72 74 71 77, Anthony Kang (USA) 71 75 75 73, Richie Ramsay 75 69 71 79, Nathan Smith (USA) 71 70 78 75, Stephan Gross junior (Ger) 73 71 79 71, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 77 68 78 71, Oliver Fisher 78 68 71 77
295 Simon Lilly 72 73 71 79, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 68 75 79
296 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 71 73 76 76, Tommy Fleetwood 75 71 72 78, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 70 72 82, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 73 69 72 82, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 71 74 79
297 John Parry 73 72 75 77, Alan McLean 70 74 77 76, Paul Waring 73 69 85 70
299 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 73 73 77 76
300 Gary Clark 76 70 79 75, Tim Stewart (Aus) 72 72 87 69
305 Graeme Storm 71 74 82 78
308 Gary Murphy 73 73 85 77