Holland's Robert-Jan Derksen fired a superb closing 67 to win the Madeira
Island Open and claim his second European Tour title.
Derksen carded six birdies, including a decisive one from 15ft on the 18th,
for a 13-under-par total of 275 at Santo da Serra.
Scotland's Gary Orr had a chance to force a play-off with a birdie on the last
but left his chip from the front of the green woefully short and missed the par
attempt.
That also cost Orr, without a win in five years, outright second as playing
partner Andrew McLardy of South Africa holed from 10ft for birdie moments later
to finish 11 under.
Ireland's David Higgins was a shot further back in fourth with England's Tom
Whitehouse in fifth on seven under, helped by holing a five-iron for a hole in
one on the 15th.
"This is what it's all about, I can't smile more than this," said Derksen,
who won a lot of friends in Madeira by playing the tournament in 2003 a
fortnight after his shock win in the Dubai Desert Classic.
"I really thought I could win today. I really felt confident. I thought 68
would be good enough and in the end I shot 67 and won by two so it was a good
prediction."
Derksen won 'just' £68,000 for his victory in this joint-sanctioned event
between the main tour and Challenge Tour, compared to £200,000 for holding off
world number two Ernie Els in Dubai, but added: "It's different but I can't say
I enjoyed Dubai more.
"It was great to watch the last hole again, in Dubai it was Ernie trying to
make a birdie and here it was Gary. It's the same excitement and it's almost
better to win again. It's fantastic."
Derksen began the day one off the lead but birdies at the second and third
quickly moved him into a lead he would never relinquish.
Orr ensured the Dutchman would not have it all his own way with three birdies
in four holes from the 11th, but Derksen responded with birdies on the 15th and
18th to ultimately seal victory.
Orr won twice on the European Tour in 2000, most notably holding off Colin
Montgomerie to win the British Masters, but has struggled to reproduce that form
and lost his card at the end of last season.
The 37-year-old, who was also troubled by a number of injuries, lost £10,000
with his bogey on the 18th but was delighted to be back in contention.
"I was in between clubs on the last and that's not a situation you want to be
in when you have a pressure shot," he said. "I was worried about going long so
didn't commit to the shot and it came up shot.
"But I can take nothing but positives from this week. It felt great to be in
contention again and I'm looking forward to keeping that going next week in
Spain."
Collated final totals (GB & Ire unless stated):
275 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 70 71 67 (£68,636)
277 Gary Orr 69 70 69 69, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 67 71 69 70 (£35,765)
278 David Higgins 69 66 74 69 (£20,590)
280 Tom Whitehouse 71 69 71 69 (£17,461)
281 John Bickerton 66 69 74 72 (£14,413)
282 Simon Wakefield 68 71 73 70, Andrew Coltart 68 71 72 71, Mikko Ilonen
(Fin) 67 74 69 72, Kyron Sullivan 64 70 73 75
283 Knud Storgaard (Den) 69 74 71 69, David Drysdale 70 73 70 70
284 Michael Kirk (Rsa) 68 76 71 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 72 74 67, Richard
McEvoy 65 74 73 72, Stuart Manley 70 70 72 72, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 70 67 73 74
285 Matthew Morris 65 74 76 70, Graeme Storm 74 69 74 68, Stephen Scahill
(Nzl) 64 73 72 76, Van Phillips 70 69 70 76
286 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 71 74 72, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 72 72 72,
Richard Finch 72 70 72 72, Mark Foster 70 69 76 71, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 72 72
71 71, Roger Chapman 69 75 73 69, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 67 74 73 72, Erol
Simsek (Ger) 70 74 69 73, Kariem Baraka (Ger) 68 72 73 73, Jean Van de Velde
(Fra) 68 72 72 74
287 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 69 71 75 72, Ian Garbutt 73 71 71 72, Magnus
Persson Atlevi (Swe) 69 68 79 71, Fredrik Henge (Swe) 70 72 74 71, Robert
Karlsson (Swe) 70 69 79 69, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 66 77 75 69, Markus Brier (Aut)
66 76 68 77
288 Gordon Brand Jnr 72 72 70 74, Simon Hurd 71 73 70 74, Benn Barham 67 74 76
71, Peter Baker 70 74 75 69, Gary Emerson 66 77 70 75
289 Shaun Webster 68 72 75 74, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 72 69 73 75, Marc Cayeux
(Zim) 69 72 73 75, Gary Murphy 68 71 78 72, Roope Kakko (Fin) 70 72 75 72,
Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 72 72 74 71, Lee James 68 70 75 76, Santiago Luna (Spa)
69 71 72 77
290 Gary Clark 73 68 78 71, Paul Dwyer 71 71 77 71
291 Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 72 70 71 78, Marco Ruiz (Par) 67 75 71 78, Miguel
Angel Martin (Spa) 67 72 71 81
292 Matthew Blackey 72 72 74 74, Garry Houston 67 73 79 73, Peter Lawrie 69 75
76 72
293 Massimo Florioli (Ita) 69 71 75 78, Sam Little 70 71 74 78, Andrew
Marshall 74 70 75 74, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 68 75 76 74, Johan Axgren (Swe) 70
71 79 73, Sam Walker 75 69 77 72
294 Andre Cruse (Rsa) 69 73 75 77, Nuno Campino (Por) 74 69 75 76
295 Stuart Little 68 71 76 80, Robert Coles 70 73 76 76, Titch Moore (Rsa) 70
72 77 76, Kalle Brink (Swe) 75 69 77 74
296 Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 71 73 73 79
297 Fernando Roca (Spa) 72 71 78 76
298 Antonio Sobrinho (Por) 72 71 78 77
299 Andrea Maestroni (Ita) 68 71 79 81
300 Alvaro Salto (Spa) 72 69 79 80
301 Robert Rock 75 69 73 84, Raymond Russell 70 73 81 77
302 Julien Clement (Swi) 71 68 77 86
307 Duarte Freitas (Por) 73 71 81 82
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