Sweden’s Alexander Bjork hailed the best round of his career after securing his first European Tour title at the Volvo China Open in Beijing.
Bjork carded seven birdies in a flawless closing 65 at Topwin Golf and Country Club to finish 18 under par, a shot ahead of Spain’s Adrian Otaegui.
Otaegui was left to rue a three-putt bogey on the 17th, although a birdie on the last sealed outright second ahead of compatriot Jorge Campillo and the English pair of Matt Wallace and Jordan Smith.
Meanwhile Paul Dunne finished four shots off the winner and in a seven-way tie for seventh place after he rounded off his week with a 68.
It was a second-successive blemish-free round for Dunne, who made birdies on eight, 11, 15 and 18 - but it wasn’t enough to mount a serious final day challenge.
Champion Bjork began the day a shot behind Wallace and Otaegui, but made an ideal start with a birdie on the first and picked up further shots on the fourth and eighth to reach the turn in 33.
The 27-year-old also birdied the 11th, 12th and 15th to move ahead of clubhouse leader Smith, who had surged through the field with a superb 64, before a birdie on the 17th capped a nerveless display.
“It’s tough to describe the emotions,” Bjork told Sky Sports. “I’m really, really happy, really proud of myself the way I played today.
“It’s probably one of the best rounds of golf I’ve ever played, I would say the best round given the situation. I made pretty much no mistakes today so I’m super happy.
“I had a really good feeling this morning actually. I was less nervous than I usually am before a really big final round. I felt confident almost all the way so I guess it was just meant to be.
“I didn’t look (at leaderboards) too much the first nine holes but from 12 I knew I was up in the lead, but then I saw a guy had finished on 16 under and I knew I needed to make birdies. That actually helped me to stay positive instead of playing safe.
“I just lost out in Hong Kong in the first tournament of the season with a bad finish and I was close last week (in the Hassan Trophy) so it was my turn today and I’m so happy for that.”
China Open collated scores:
270 Alexander Bjork (Swe) 66 72 67 65
271 Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 69 67 67
272 Matt Wallace 65 70 69 68, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 69 68 68 67, Jordan Smith 69 69 70 64
273 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 73 66 64
274 Paul Dunne 71 68 67 68, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 72 66 68 68, Ashun Wu (Chn) 70 71 66 67, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 69 72 65 68
275 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 70 66 70 69, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 68 72 66 69, Scott Vincent (Zim) 66 74 68 67
276 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 69 72 68 67, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 73 65 69, Daxing Jin (Chn) 64 76 69 67, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 70 67 68, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 69 67 70 70, Soomin Lee (Kor) 68 69 70 69
277 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 67 69 71 70, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 72 68 67 70, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 69 68 72, Ashley Chesters 72 68 68 69, Aaron Rai 73 70 68 66
278 Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 69 70 69, Keith Horne (Rsa) 69 74 68 67
279 Jason Norris (Aus) 74 64 70 71, Lasse Jensen (Den) 73 68 70 68, Chris Hanson 71 71 67 70, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 69 72 69 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 69 71 69
280 Haotong Li (Chn) 70 70 72 68, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 72 68 71,Sam Horsfield 69 70 73 68, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 65 73 69 73, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 71 68 69
281 Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 70 73 71 67, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 70 72 68 71, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 73 70 68 70, Richard T Lee (Can) 71 68 74 68, Miguel Tabuena (Phi) 71 72 72 66, Hong-fu Wu (Chn) 73 67 69 72, Micah Lauren Shin (USA) 71 71 66 73, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 74 67 70 70
282 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 71 68 71 72, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 70 66 75, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 71 74 68, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 70 69 70, Yuta Ikeda (Jp) 69 72 68 73, David Lipsky (USA) 68 75 67 72, Masahiro Kawamura (Jp) 69 70 73 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 71 68 71
283 Julian Suri (USA) 71 69 71 72, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 73 68 71 71, Scott Jamieson 67 71 73 72
284 Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha) 70 72 69 73, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 74 68 71 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 75 68 69 72, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 71 73 70, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 69 76 67, Panuphol Pittayarat (Tha) 68 74 71 71, Gavin Green (Mal) 73 67 71 73
285 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 68 73 73 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 68 72 72 73
287 James Morrison 70 70 74 73
288 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 73 68 76 71, Yan-wei Liu (Chn) 70 73 72 73
294 Khalin H Joshi (Ind) 71 71 73 79
296 Xue-wen Luo (Chn) 72 68 76 80
