Sweden's Henrik Stenson, in his first season on the European tour, won the Benson and Hedges International Open at The Belfry today.
The 25-year-old leaps from 129th to 16th in the European Ryder Cup table after winning the Stg£166,660 first prize by three strokes from IrishmanPaul McGinley and Argentina's Angel Cabrera with a 13-under-par total of 275.
The money was more than 10 times Stenson's previous biggest cheque and over Stg£100,000 more than he collected for winning the "seconddivision" Challenge Tour last season.
After double-bogeying the ninth to turn two ahead, Stenson chipped in for an eagle on the 10th and holed a 14-foot birdie putt at the next.
Cabrera did cut the gap back to two, but again Stenson responded with a seven-foot birdie at the 16th and, as a thunderstorm threatened, hesafely negotiated the last two holes.
McGinley birdied the last holes, finishing with a 15-foot putt, to catch Cabrera and himself goes up from 14th to eighth in the Ryder Cup race.
PA