Maarten Lafeber today became the first home winner of the Dutch Open for more than half a century with a nerve-wracking victory at Hilversum.
Lafeber, who lives in nearby Amsterdam, carded a final-round 67 to also claim his maiden European Tour title in the perfect fashion and delight the large crowd.
The 28-year-old's 13-under-par total of 267 gave him the first prize of Stg£116,000 with Denmark's Soren Hansen and Swede Mathias Gronberg sharing second two shots behind.
Welshman Jamie Donaldson finished joint fourth on 10 under alongside another Dane, Steen Tinning, who eagled the last in his penultimate event before retiring with a back injury.
Gary Murphy was the only Irishman to make the halfway cut and the Kilkenny golfer went on to finish the tournament with a level par 70 to share sixth on nine under.
The 31-year-old had got himself into contention, that was before a double bogey at the par three 10th halted any aspirations Murphy had of winning.
Hansen began the day with a one-shot lead and quickly stretched that to three with birdies at the second and third, the latter following a superb approach to within two feet of the flag.
That briefly subdued the enthusiastic crowds hoping for a Dutch victory, but Lafeber gave them something to cheer with a birdie on the sixth from 15 feet to close the gap.
Hansen's lead was then trimmed to a single stroke when he bogeyed the eighth after driving into the trees and being forced to play out sideways, but the major turning point was to come on the next.
Hansen carved his approach into more trees and failed to escape from the foliage at the first attempt, and then compounded his error with a poor chip and two putts for a double-bogey six.
Lafeber had already hit a superb second to four feet and calmly holed for a birdie and a three-shot swing on the hole, moving into the lead for the first time on 12 under par.
His nearest challenger was now Gronberg who joined Lafeber at the top of the leaderboard with his sixth birdie of the day - and third two on the back nine - on the 15th. But Gronberg then bogeyed the 16th after finding a greenside bunker and a birdie on the last was only good enough for a share of second.
In the final group Lafeber and Hansen both birdied the 12th and after a bogey on the 13th, Hansen ensured a nail-biting finish with birdies on the 14th and 16th.
Both players then just missed the 18th green in two and chipped to five feet, but Hansen missed his birdie putt to potentially force a play-off, and Lafeber gratefully accepted his two putts to become the first Dutch winner of the title since Joop Ruhl in 1947.
Meanwhile Gronberg had mixed emotions after a closing 65 which contained two bogeys and a three-putt par on the 12th as he chased his second victory of the season.
"I was not even thinking about winning the tournament this morning," said Gronberg. "I was hoping to shoot five or six under and see what would come with that.
"I'm very happy to shoot five under but slightly disappointed to have a three putt and two bogeys with a seven and eight iron in my hand.
"When you're standing there on 16 with an eight iron in your hand you're thinking birdie not bogey, and I was trying to hole that putt on the 12th for eagle but these things happen."