European Tour: Peter Hanson, who hunts anything from ducks to deer to wild boar for a hobby, discovered what it was like to be the hunted yesterday.
But at the end of it the 27-year-old beat fellow Swede Peter Gustafsson at the first play-off hole to win the Jazztel Spanish Open at San Roque and claim his first European Tour victory.
The pair tied on eight-under-par 280, but when they returned to the 18th hole Gustafsson, winner of the qualifying school on the same course in November, pulled his approach badly left.
He played as good a pitch over the bunker as he could hope for, but it ran 12 feet past and, after Hanson had chipped superbly to within inches of the cup, his putt to stay alive lipped out.
The title brought with it a cheque for €275,000 - and made Hanson the circuit's latest euro millionaire.
Peter Lawrie finish in a two-way tie for third with South Africa's Hennie Otto after closing with a three-under-par 69 which including birdies at the final two holes. It was worth €92,895.
And Paul McGinley also shot a 69 to move from tied 18th to tied eighth and collect €35,392.
Hanson, the former amateur international, had been joint leader after the first round, one ahead at halfway and two clear with 18 holes to go, so the win was achieved the hard way.
"You want to put yourself in these stressful situations and to pull it off is a great feeling," said Hanson, who closed with a 71 after lipping out from 30 feet on the final green.
"I was a bit nervous on the last couple of holes and in the play-off Peter wanted to chat coming down the fairway, but I wanted just to keep my mind on what I was doing. I think he got the hint!"
Gustafsson, five behind at the start, had matched the low round of the week with his 66, and although he just failed to win what was only his 22nd tour event it was an enormous step forward for him.
His world ranking was 578th - Hanson was 228 - and his previous best finish was 14th.
Otto was joint leader after an eagle on the long ninth, but his very next shot was hooked out of bounds and he fell out of the reckoning by also double-bogeying the 15th.
Welshman Stephen Dodd, who began the season with his first tour victory at the Volvo China Open and then was joint second behind Ernie Els in the Dubai Desert Classic, rose from 31st to joint fifth with the other 66 of the week.
It takes him to fourth place on the Order of Merit even though he has not played in the two richest events so far, the Masters and the World Matchplay.
Spanish Open
FINAL ROUND SCORES AND TOTALS
in Andalucia, San Roque, Cadiz
(Irish in bold, British unless stated, par 72)
280 - Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 68 71 71, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 70 69 75 66.
(Hanson won play-off at first hole. Hanson wins 275,000, Gustafsson 183,330).
283 - Peter Lawrie 71 70 73 69, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 71 71 69 72 (92,895 each)
285 - Stephen Dodd 74 73 72 66, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 71 71 71.
286 - Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 71 72 72 71.
287 - Steven O'Hara 70 75 74 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 71 74 69, Simon Khan 73 73 72 69, Paul McGinley 76 70 72 69 (€35,392).
288 - Ian Garbutt 72 74 73 69, Sam Little 74 70 74 70, David Gilford 75 71 70 72, Paul Lawrie 72 72 69 75, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 72 68 75.
289 - Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 72 75 69, Stuart Little 72 74 74 69, Damien McGrane 73 74 69 73 (€20,955), Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 73 72 70 74.
290 - Stephen Gallacher 73 75 75 67, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 72 78 68, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 72 73 74 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 77 69 73 71, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 75 73 71 71, Andrew Marshall 72 71 75 72, David Griffiths 77 68 73 72, David Park 72 72 73 73, Jamie Donaldson 74 68 74 74, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 76 68 74.
291 - Oliver Wilson 75 72 74 70, Johan Axgren (Swe) 72 74 73 72, Carlos Del Corral (Spa) 74 73 72 72, Mark Foster 72 72 74 73, Jonathan Lomas 73 74 71 73, Adam Mednick (Swe) 72 74 71 74.
292 - Carl Suneson (Spa) 76 72 74 70, David Lynn 74 71 76 71, Diego Borrego (Spa) 70 73 77 72, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 73 71 73 75.
293 - Steve Webster 79 69 75 70, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 72 75 74 72, David Drysdale 74 73 74 72, Andrea Maestroni (Ita) 72 76 73 72, Graeme Storm 73 70 77 73, Alfredo Garcia (Spa) 75 72 71 75.
294 - Fernando Roca (Spa) 72 75 75 72, Ben Mason 72 75 75 72, Titch Moore (Rsa) 75 73 71 75, Marcel Siem (Ger) 73 75 70 76.
295 - Robert Rock 73 75 77 70, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 73 71 77 74, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 70 75 77, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 75 72 71 77, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 68 74 80.
296 - Leif Westerberg (Swe) 73 73 79 71, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 77 78 71, Gary Murphy 73 74 77 72 (€4,983), Roger Chapman 75 72 75 74, Johan Skold (Swe) 75 73 71 77.
297 - John Bickerton 73 75 76 73, Andrew Coltart 73 75 75 74, Jose Rivero (Spa) 70 72 76 79.
298 - Malcolm Mackenzie 72 74 78 74, Oskar Bergman (Swe) 71 74 76 77.
300 - David Carter 74 74 74 78.
301 - Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 74 74 79 74, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 74 71 78 78.
302 - Fredrik Henge (Swe) 75 71 79 77.
307 - Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 75 72 82 78.
308 - Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 77 82 79.
