Bjorn again! Swede wins in Portugal
Thomas Bjorn won the Estoril Open de Portugal by five strokes yesterday, taking his first victory in four years with a flourish as he beat Australia's Richard Green into second place.
The Swede's last victory on the European Tour dated back to 2006, when Bjorn won the Irish Open by a stroke. But at the Penha Longa course in Linho Sintra this weekend, the 39-year-old grasped glory in emphatic style, coming home with a final round of four-under-par 68 that saw him finish 23-under-par for the tournament.
Bjorn's final round featured just one bogey, on the 16th, while five birdies ensured the win. He had led by three strokes going into the final day, and though Green struggled manfully to catch up, a pair of bogeys on the 14th and 15th saw the Aussie's challenge fall away in the end.
Bjorn's win seals an impressive turnaround for the player, given the parlous state of his form in recent tournaments - before a top-10 finish at last week's Wales Open, the Swede had missed the cut at six competitions in a row, and had fallen out of the world's top 200 players.
"It was certainly nice to win again," admitted Bjorn. "Today had its ups and downs, but I pulled it off when I needed to and closed out the tournament quite well in the end.
"But I was very determined not to let anything get in my way today, and even when I missed some short putts I kept battling away."
Mark F Haastrup finished in third place on 16-under, with an eagle on the 6th - that's the Dane's best finish on the European Tour to date. England's Robert Rock eagled the same hole to take fourth place, even though three bogeys on the final round meant he could only finish one-under on the day, 14-under-par in total.
One-time leader Damien McGrane finished in fifth place, one-over on the day, 13-under in total. But Luke Goddard, who had been the shock early leader with McGrane after the first day, could only finish five-under for the tournament after a dismal final round that saw him finish six-over-par 78.
Chris Wood was the highest-ranked player here at 82nd in the world, but he could only finish tied for 15th place after posting a final round of four-over.
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