Australian Mark Hensby transferred his major form onto the European Tour
to win the Scandinavian Masters in Stockholm.
Hensby - fifth, third and 15th in the three majors this season - defeated
local favourite Henrik Stenson on the second play-off hole after the pair had
finished tied on 22 under par at Kungsangen.
After both players made par on the first hole of sudden death it was Stenson
who cracked under the pressure, the Swede three-putting the same hole from 25ft
to gift Hensby the title and £185,000 first prize.
"The majors are what we want to win but winning this is very special," said
Hensby, who needed a sponsor's invite to take part.
"I wanted to play here last year but couldn't make it but I suppose it's
turned out for the best.
"I'll definitely take up membership of the European Tour now, it's much more
relaxing over here, you get to visit different cities and it's something I
really enjoy."
Stenson looked to have clinched his third tour title when he eagled the 17th
to move two shots clear of Hensby in the group behind.
But the 34-year-old from Melbourne two-putted the 17th for birdie and then
holed from 30ft on the 18th for another birdie - and inward half of 30 - to stun
the large home crowds.
"When you know you have to make it to get in a play-off it's like you have a
free run at it," added Hensby, winner of the John Deere Classic on the US Tour
last year.
"I hit a great putt but you also need that bit of luck for it to go in. I had
a very similar putt on the first play-off hole but didn't hit it hard enough,
and then on the second hole I think Henrik thought I was going to hole for
birdie and gave his putt a real run.
"But he will learn a lot. He's got so much talent and he's going to be a
great player."
Hensby's victory did at least make one Swedish person happy, namely his caddy
Fanny Sunesson.
"I've known Fanny for a while," Hensby added. "When she was working for
Nick (Faldo) in Korea last year I told I her was coming to Sweden and would love
for her to work for me.
"She said coming up the last we could make a lot of Swedes unhappy and she'd
be the only happy one but the crowds were great, they really take to you."
Stenson, who began the day two shots off the lead, said: "I'm greatly
disappointed to lose out but I went out there and played a good round of golf so
I'm very happy with the way I played.
"You have to think he was going to hole that putt on the last. I played with
him over the first three days and had seen him make quite a few of those. He
needed to make birdie and did and that's the sign of a great golfer.
"I had all the support throughout the week and especially today. I really
felt the crowds were with me and it would have meant a lot to walk away with the
trophy.
"I finished tied second last year and second on my own this year so at least
we are moving in the right direction."
Zimbabwe's Marc Cayeux stormed home in just 28 shots to card a closing 65 and
claim a share of third with joint overnight leader Bradley Dredge, the Welshman
struggling to a 70.
Cayeux was born in Lancaster but now lives in South Africa and is financially
supporting his parents who still live in Zimbabwe.
"When I was signing the card the recorder said '28' and I couldn't believe
it, it was just amazing," said the 27-year-old, who won £62,000. "It's a nice
cheque to send home to my parents.
"They sent me messages of encouragement and told me to hang in and I did
that. I've been trying to secure things on the Order of Merit and I'm pretty
chuffed."
Dredge also led by two shots going into the final round in Hamburg last week
before fading to fifth, and admitted: "This is getting annoying now, very
frustrating.
"My driving of the ball was terrible, I couldn't hit a fairway so I was
struggling."
Collated final totals (GB & Ire unless stated):
262 Mark Hensby (Aus) 65 68 64 65 (£184,976), Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 66 64 65
(£123,315)
Hensby won at second play-off hole
265 Marc Cayeux (Zim) 63 69 68 65, Bradley Dredge 66 63 66 70 (£62,486 each)
268 Pierre Fulke (Swe) 67 63 70 68, Adam Scott (Aus) 70 65 65 68 (£42,952
each)
269 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 69 65 69 66, Gary Emerson 69 67 66 67, Henrik
Nystrom (Swe) 66 65 69 69, Barry Lane 64 66 65 74
270 Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 70 68 66 66, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 66 69 68 67, Paul
Broadhurst 67 68 67 68, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 66 65 69 70, Richard Finch 71
64 65 70, Damien McGrane 68 66 64 72
271 Jamie Donaldson 68 69 67 67
272 Johan Skold (Swe) 67 70 70 65, (x) Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 66 69 68,
Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 67 71 65 69, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 67 65 70 70, Jarrod
Moseley (Aus) 67 68 67 70, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 66 71 65 70, Peter O'Malley
(Aus) 66 68 67 71
273 Marten Olander (Swe) 68 70 69 66, Raymond Russell 68 67 72 66, Peter
Lawrie 67 70 69 67, Simon Wakefield 71 65 68 69, Johan Edfors (Swe) 67 67 69 70,
Stuart Little 69 66 68 70 274 Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 68 70 69 67, (x) David Palm
(Swe) 70 65 72 67, Andrew Marshall 66 70 71 67, Sam Little 71 67 68 68, Peter
Gustafsson (Swe) 71 64 71 58, David Lynn 70 65 71 68, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 67
69 70 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 65 69 71 69, Mark Roe 70 65 67 72
275 Hernan Rey (Arg) 69 69 71 66, Sam Walker 67 70 71 67, Johan Axgren (Swe)
70 66 71 68, Gordon Brand Jnr 69 66 71 69, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 62 68 71,
Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 71 67 65 72
276 Scott Drummond 71 66 71 68, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 72 66 69 69, Joakim
Backstrom (Swe) 68 69 70 69, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 70 67 70 69, Peter Hedblom
(Swe) 68 68 70 70, Terry Price (Aus) 72 65 68 71, Steven O'Hara 67 70 68 71
277 Martin Maritz (Rsa) 73 65 67 72, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 69 67 69 72, Ian
Garbutt 66 70 69 72
278 Ben Mason 69 69 72 68, Fredrik Henge (Swe) 67 70 71 70, Markus Brier (Aut)
70 66 71 71, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 71 67 68 72, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 68 67 71 72,
Gary Orr 68 69 69 72, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 71 66 67 74
279 Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 66 70 76 67, Oliver Wilson 68 69 73 69, Andrew
Oldcorn 66 68 75 70, Richard Bland 66 70 70 73
280 Andrew Coltart 69 67 76 68, Peter Fowler (Aus) 67 70 72 71, Darren
Fichardt (Rsa) 72 66 68 74
281 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 66 70 78 67, Stuart Manley 68 70 73 70
282 Oskar Bergman (Swe) 72 66 70 74, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 66 71 74, Peter
Hanson (Swe) 69 68 69 76
283 Simon Hurd 69 68 72 74
287 Philip Archer 68 70 77 72, Gary Murphy 68 70 77 72
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