Leaderboard
-9 Eddie Pepperell
-7 Alex Bjork
-5 Lucas Herbert, Jordan Smith
-4 Julian Suri, Sam Horsfield, Tom Lewis
Final round report
Eddie Pepperell held off Alex Bjork to win the British Masters, all but earning an invite to next year's Masters at Augusta in the process.
Pepperell will climb well inside the world's top 40 as a result of his second European Tour title, the first earned earlier this year in Qatar, and with the top 50 at the year's end securing Masters invites a debut in Georgia could well be forthcoming.
Victory at Walton Heath came at the end of a spectacular week for the Oxford man, triggered by a hole-in-one on Thursday - the first of four eagles during the event - and capped with a closing par after Bjork had made a scrap of it.
The final eagle came at the par-four 10th hole on Sunday and looked to have given Pepperell enough of a cushion, but bogeys at the 15th and 16th holes saw his Swedish rival close to within one.
Pepperell made an excellent par on the 17th to steady the ship, though, and with Bjork wayward off the 18th tee the Englishman produced one of his finest drives to take the tournament by the scruff of the neck.
As Bjork came unstuck from thick heather, made more penal by the rain which fell throughout the final day, Pepperell had the opportunity to end the contest but a pulled approach into sand extended the tension for a few minutes more.
Bjork, though, was unable to salvage his par and that allowed Pepperell some breathing space, which showed as he got up and down to secure the biggest victory of his career to date.
Pepperell won by two from Bjork, with a further two shots back to Lucas Herbert and Jordan Smith in a share of third place, and was visibly emotional afterwards.
"It was just such a tough day with the conditions, I couldn't get going," he told Sky Sports.
"I felt good, I just was putting myself under unnecessary pressure.
"I'm delighted (to win) wire to wire and especially this event."
English duo Sam Horsfield and Tom Lewis shared fifth with America's Julian Suri, with tournament host Justin Rose ending on a high for eighth place.
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