Donald - winner in Switzerland (Getty Images).
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Luke Donald vindicated Bernhard Langer's decision to hand him the final
wild card for next month's Ryder Cup by romping to victory in the Omega European
Masters.
It was the 26-year-old's second European tour win in a month after his triumph
in the Scandinavian Masters and it mirrored the achievement of 31-year-old
American Stewart Cink, who celebrated his Detroit backdoor call-up with a World
Championship success.
Donald produced four thrilling rounds of golf which matched the stunning
setting at the Crans-sur-Sierre club high in the Swiss mountains to finish five
shots clear of the field.
He looked anything but a rookie as he came from a shot behind to beat
overnight leader Miguel Angel Jimenez into second place.
The man from Hemel Hempstead faced a daunting test of his nerves as he went
out in the final group on the final day in the same group as Jimenez and Sergio
Garcia.
After starting so well, Garcia became more erratic with every hole and
eventually conceded defeat after going out of bounds on the 14th for a double
bogey.
Jimenez also failed to supply the fireworks of the previous three days and
carded a one-over final round to open the gate for the rookie, who will stand
alongside him in Detroit.
Donald gave Langer and his own travelling contingent some hairy moments by
missing two short putts at the 11th and the unlucky 13th to settle for bogeys.
But he never lost his position at the top of the leaderboard after holing an
eagle at the par-five first.
Each time he dropped a shot he responded courageously with a birdie to card a
round of 66 to finish on 19 under and five clear of nearest rival Jimenez to
secure only his second win on the European tour after his Scandinavian Masters
success a month ago.
Garcia's collapse will have concerned Langer and he finished joint third at 13
under with former king of the mountains Eduardo Romero and England's Robert
Coles.
Ernie Els missed out on the chance to emulate Seve Ballesteros' feat of
retaining this title and he found green-side water on the final hole to finish
alone on 11 under and one shot behind Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell.
The South African groaned: "It wasn't nice to us out there on Sunday.
"It was rush, wait, rush and wait so I didn't find any rhythm. I had a chance
on the back nine but I hit too many bad shots."
Collated final-round scores in the European Tour Omega European Masters, Crans-sur-Sierre, Crans Montana, Switzerland (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
265 Luke Donald 67 67 65 66
270 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 65 67 66 72
271 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 66 65 68 71, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 68 67 67 69, Robert
Coles 70 68 69 64
272 Graeme McDowell 69 67 66 70
273 Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 67 66 71
274 Kyoung-Ju Choi (Kor) 76 65 66 67, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 67 69 72 66
276 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 67 69 71, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 72 65 71 68,
Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 70 68 72 66
277 James Kingston (Rsa) 68 69 71 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 67 73 68 69, Craig
Spence (Aus) 69 67 66 75
278 Mark Roe 72 69 68 69, Simon Dyson 68 68 74 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68
66 71 73, Peter Fowler (Aus) 67 68 71 72
279 Bradley Dredge 69 68 72 70, Anthony Wall 70 72 67 70, Andrew Marshall 72
65 73 69, Robert Rock 71 70 70 68
280 Wade Ormsby (Aus) 68 70 71 71, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 70 72 69
281 Per Nyman (Swe) 70 71 71 69, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 70 71 69, Miles
Tunnicliff 73 68 74 66, Paul Broadhurst 68 71 71 71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 69 70
70, Soren Hansen (Den) 74 67 71 69, Johan Edfors (Swe) 74 69 69 70, Marc Farry
(Fra) 66 70 71 74, Stuart Little 71 69 68 73
282 Matthew Blackey 70 69 72 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 69 72 73
283 Ivo Giner (Spa) 71 70 72 70, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 74 69 70 70, Peter Baker
66 73 74 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 76 67 71 69, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 72 69
72 70, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 68 70 75
284 Steven O'Hara 67 73 74 70, Philip Golding 70 70 71 73, David Gilford 72 68
71 73
285 Jesus Arruti (Spa) 68 74 69 74, Marc Chatelain (Swi) 73 69 70 73, Iain
Pyman 74 69 75 67, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 72 70 73, John Bickerton 72 70 72 71,
Brian Davis 70 71 71 73, Paul Lawrie 70 71 71 73, Jamie Spence 68 71 72 74, Mark
Foster 70 73 72 70, Christian Cevear (Fra) 68 71 75 71
286 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 69 75 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 72 73 70, Simon
Wakefield 67 73 70 76, Nick Dougherty 75 68 71 72
287 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 68 72 77, Gordon Brand Jnr 72 70 73 72,
Roger Chapman 71 65 72 79, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 69 71 74, Hennie Otto (Rsa)
71 72 71 73, Diego Borrego (Spa) 70 73 73 71
288 Sandy Lyle 70 72 73 73, Peter Lawrie 71 71 73 73
289 Richard McEvoy 72 66 73 78
290 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 66 76 76 72, Nicolas Sulzer (Swi) 71 72 73 74, Cesar
Monasterio (Arg) 68 74 73 75
291 Tom Whitehouse 72 69 75 75, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 72 76 72
292 David Dixon 73 69 73 77, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 70 73 76
293 Dean Robertson 70 73 76 74
294 Gary Orr 69 73 75 77
295 Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 72 69 74 80
297 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 71 72 80 74
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