Soren Kjeldsen became the fifth Danish golfer to win on the European tour in little more than a year today.

The 28-year-old won the Diageo Championship at Gleneagles by two strokes from Scot Alastair Forsyth and with the £200,000 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 10 and a half stone - 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.

Kjeldsen did marvellously well 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."

Collated final-round scores (Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):

279 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 68 67 72(£200,000)

281 Alastair Forsyth 70 73 69 69 (£133,330)

282 Paul Broadhurst 73 68 71 70 (£75,120)

283 Colin Montgomerie 72 73 69 69 (£60,000)

285 Rolf Muntz (Ned) 72 70 73 70, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 74 70 70 71, Stephen Gallacher 76 71 67 71 (£42,960 each)

286 John Bickerton 74 71 71 70, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 75 66 73 (£28,440 each)

287 Stephen Dodd 72 71 75 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 72 71 70, Richard Green (Aus) 74 75 68 70

288 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 76 73 71 68, Paul Casey 76 71 68 73

289 Andrew Raitt 75 71 72 71, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 70 72 74 73, Steve Webster 77 71 68 73

290 Paul Eales 74 74 73 69, Philip Golding 75 75 69 71, Sandy Lyle 73 71 74 72, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 73 73 71 73, Gary Orr 75 68 72 75

291 David Orr 76 74 72 69, David Gilford 76 74 70 71, Peter Fowler (Aus) 77 73 69 72, Graeme McDowell 74 77 68 72, Iain Pyman 71 74 73 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 76 70 73, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 74 77 67 73, Shaun Webster 76 72 69 74

292 Peter O'Malley (Aus) 76 74 71 71, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 71 75 74 72, David Howell 77 70 73 72, Peter Baker 75 74 71 72, Julien Clement (Swi) 78 74 68 72, Miles Tunnicliff 78 69 72 73

293 Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 73 77 75 68, Mark Mouland 75 74 75 69, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 74 77 71 71, David Park 75 75 71 72, Ian Garbutt 76 76 69 72, Simon Wakefield 73 75 70 75

294 Mark McNulty (Zim) 75 75 72 72

295 Alvaro Salto (Spa) 77 72 75 71, Lee Westwood 74 74 75 72, Barry Lane 74 75 73 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 77 75 70 73, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 74 74 73 74, Mark James 76 75 70 74

296 Ben Mason 76 76 73 71, Neil Cheetham 73 71 79 73, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 76 75 71 74, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 78 74 70 74, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 75 75 71 75, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 74 77 68 77, Sam Torrance 74 71 73 78

297 Paul Lawrie 77 71 76 73, Gary Clark 79 70 72 76, Zane Scotland 72 78 71 76, Philip Walton 74 74 72 77

298 Russell Claydon 73 79 73 73, Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 79 73 71 75, Gary Murphy 73 76 72 77

299 Ross Drummond 78 73 75 73, Thomas Norret (Den) 78 73 71 77, Ivo Giner (Spa) 71 72 75 81

300 Pierre Fulke (Swe) 78 74 75 73, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 76 76 73 75, Andrew Marshall 79 73 73 75, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 75 75 72 78

301 Matthew Blackey 74 77 78 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 75 78 76, Marc Warren 70 75 75 81

302 Mark Roe 77 75 72 78, Santiago Luna (Spa) 75 75 72 80

303 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 73 78 75 77, Titch Moore (Rsa) 76 75 74 78

305 Philip Archer 74 78 78 75

311 Fraser Mann 74 76 84 77, Adam Mednick (Swe) 74 75 78 84

312 Scott Kammann (USA) 75 77 79 81