Germany's Tobias Dier led from start to finish to claim his second European
Tour title in the TNT Open.
Dier carded a final round 69 for a 17-under-par total and one shot victory
over Jamie Spence, Australian Peter Lonard and Ireland's Padraig Harrington
sharing third.
The 25-year-old collected the winner's cheque for £193,000, more than 10 times
his earnings for the rest of the year after missing the cut in 12 of his last 15
events.
"I don't really know what to say," said Dier, who won the North West of
Ireland Open last year.
"If someone had told me I would champion before the week I would have said
'Dream on.' It's like a fairytale.
"When I won in Ireland I felt very familiar with things because it was a
joint event with the Challenge Tour and I knew a lot of the players. It was a
bit different from this week.
"When you look at the entry sheet you see Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington,
John Daly, so this is a much bigger win for me.
"I'm sure my life will change. Last year I was seriously thinking about where
the money was coming from for the rest of the season so the cheque is very
welcome, and with the exemption I now have a job for the next two years."
Dier's sparkling first round 60, equalling the lowest ever score on tour, gave
him a five-shot cushion, and he led by three after the second and third rounds
following consecutive 67s.
A birdie at the seventh then took him four clear on a sweltering afternoon in
Hilversum today, before that gap was slowly whittled down to one.
Bogeys at the eighth and 11th gave the chasing pack reason for hope, Lonard
getting within a shot of the lead after a birdie at the 13th.
But Dier, who missed six cuts in a row before his win in Ireland last year,
and the next five afterwards admirably kept his nerve and eagled the 12th just
ahead of playing partner Harrington to keep his nose in front.
"I hit a five-iron which was all over the pin to about seven feet but then
Padraig hit it even closer," he added.
"I had a downhill putt and it was a relief when it just went in, that was the
important one."
Spence then set up a tense finale with an eagle of his own from 12 feet on the
last to card a closing 65 and move to 16 under, but Dier was able to par the
last six holes to seal a well deserved victory.
Spence, one of the other eight players to shoot a round of 60 on the European
Tour when coming from 10 shots back on the final day to win the European Masters
10 years ago, said: "I missed a four footer for birdie at the third and then
was all over the place in the trees at the fourth.
"I was lucky to make a bogey actually so I thought it was going to be one of
those days. I'm really pleased at the way I managed to turn it around.
"Before I came here I had a look back through the records of tournaments at
this course because I really like it here, and because the par had been reduced
I thought 15 under would be a really good score. I've beaten that by one so I
can't really complain."
The 39-year-old from Kent missed the cut by 11 shots in the Open at Muirfield
last week, but a quick lesson with former tour winner Peter Mitchell on Monday
got him back on track.
"I know Peter will will be watching back home, I've done a lot of work with
him recently and he'll be delighted for me, I know that," added Spence.
"I've also done a bit of work with psychologist Chris Linstead, he really
knows what it is all about and I have to thank him too."
Harrington narrowly missed an eagle putt on the last that would have given him
an 18th second place of his professional career, but admitted: "I struggled all
day with my clubbing with a little bit of breeze.
"I drove it well and had a lot of short irons but I don't think there was one
I stood over that I was comfortable with. But the 15th broke my heart.
"I hit the perfect shot in with a little nine iron and it pitched 160 yards,
right over the pin, right over everything. I had to be aggressive to make birdie
but made bogey instead and that really killed me."
Collated scores and totals in final round of TNT Open, Hilversum Golf Club,
Hilversum, Holland (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 70):
(x) denotes amateurs
263 Tobias Dier (Ger) 60 67 67 69 (£193,019)
264 Jamie Spence 66 64 69 65 (£128,679)
265 Peter Lonard (Aus) 67 63 68 67, Padraig Harrington 66 67 64 68 (£65,201
each)
267 Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 66 67 67 67 (£49,104)
268 Alastair Forsyth 68 69 68 63, Ian Poulter 67 69 66 66, Justin Rose 67 67
67 67, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 68 65 65 70
269 Gary Evans 69 64 69 67, Kenneth Ferrie 68 67 65 69, Raymond Russell 65 70
64 70
270 Andrew Oldcorn 68 69 68 65, Steen Tinning (Den) 70 66 67 67, Nick Faldo 68
68 67 67
271 Greg Turner (Nzl) 70 69 68 64, Russell Claydon 68 71 68 64, Klas Eriksson
(Swe) 69 68 67 67, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 68 72 64 67, Matthew Cort 69 69 64 69,
Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 67 64 70, Mark Roe 67 64 66 74
272 Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 65 71 65, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 66 69 66,
Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 68 71 66 67, Robert Coles 68 70 66 68, David Lynn 68
67 68 69
273 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 66 73 66, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 70 66 68, David
Gilford 65 69 70 69
274 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 66 70 70 68, Jamie Donaldson 70 67 68 69, Matt
Kuchar (USA) 69 66 69 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 68 67 70, Scott Gardiner (Aus)
69 70 65 70
275 Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 69 71 64, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 69 69 67,
Stuart Little 72 68 68 67, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 68 72 67 68, Warren Bennett
68 69 68 70, Ian Garbutt 68 69 67 71
276 Gordon Brand Jnr 69 70 75 62, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 68 71 68, Markus
Brier (Aut) 69 70 69 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 66 68 69, Wei-Tze Yeh (Tai)
69 71 66 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 67 66 72
277 Jonathan Lomas 70 67 71 69, Philip Golding 69 71 68 69, Stephen Leaney
(Aus) 68 71 68 70, (x) Jamie Elson 69 69 67 72, Andrew Coltart 69 69 67 72
278 Christopher Hanell (Swe) 66 73 71 68, Andrew Butterfield 68 71 70 69,
Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 69 69 69, Marc Farry (Fra) 67 72 69 70, James Kingston
(Rsa) 68 71 69 70, John Daly (USA) 70 67 70 71
279 Jerry Pate (USA) 68 69 74 68, Ronan Rafferty 65 72 74 68, Chris Gane 68 71
71 69, David Howell 66 73 69 71, Gary Orr 71 65 66 77
280 Paul Eales 69 70 70 71, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned) 68 72 68 72, Gary Emerson
76 64 68 72, John Bickerton 67 69 70 74
281 Carl Suneson (Spa) 72 68 74 67, Rory Sabbatini (USA) 69 70 68 74, Darren
Fichardt (Rsa) 69 71 67 74
283 Lucas Parsons (Aus) 69 69 72 73, Lee Westwood 70 66 72 75
284 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 67 69 74 74, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 70 70 74
285 Mark Mouland 68 72 75 70
287 Joakim Rask (Swe) 69 71 72 75
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