Andres Romero rises from the doldrums to hold off Garcia

Andres Romero held off the challenge of Masters champion Sergio Garcia and England's Richard Bland to win his first title in nine years at the BMW International Open.

The Argentinian was playing on a sponsor’s invite in Munich and had slipped to 837th in the world since his last victory at the 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

He showed no signs of that alarming drop in form on Sunday, however, carding a closing bogey-free 65 to get to 17 under and beat Bland, Garcia and Belgium's Thomas Detry by a single shot.

Romero began his round with seven pars but birdied the eighth, ninth and 11th before a hat-trick of gains from the 13th moved him into a share of the lead.

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Detry posted a closing 66 to set the target at 16 under but when Garcia three-putted the 16th and Bland missed the green on the next, the door was open for Romero.

He left his eagle putt on the last a long way short but held his nerve to make a birdie, leaving the final pairing of Bland and Garcia both needing finishing eagles to force a play-off.

The duo could only make birdies, however, and Romero was handed his second European Tour win.

Garcia was looking for his third win of the season in his first event in Europe since his triumph at Augusta, while Bland fell agonisingly short of his first victory in his 411th European Tour appearance.

Swede Rikard Karlberg finished at 14 under, a shot clear of England's Tommy Fleetwood and Italian Renato Paratore, with Open champion Henrik Stenson six shots behind the winner.

European Tour BMW International Open, Golfclub Munchen Eichenried, Munich, Germany (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

271 Andres Romero (Arg) 67 71 68 65

272 Richard Bland 67 69 67 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 66 70 67 69, Thomas Detry (Bel) 65 71 70 66

274 Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 67 69 72 66

275 Tommy Fleetwood 67 71 70 67, Renato Paratore (Ita) 70 70 67 68

276 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 68 69 70 69, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 72 70 68 66

277 David Lipsky (USA) 71 69 67 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 69 72 69

278 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 67 74 68 69, Scott Henry 69 72 66 71

279 Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 73 69 71, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 69 66 69 75, Jamie Donaldson 70 71 68 70, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 72 71 66 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 70 70 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 71 68 69

280 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 69 71 72, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 74 69 66 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 70 72 67 71, Ashley Chesters 71 71 69 69, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 68 74 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 69 69 71 71

281 Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 69 74 71 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71 67 72, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 70 68 72 71, Ryan Fox (Nz) 68 75 68 70, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 69 74 67 71

282 Anthony Wall 71 72 66 73, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 72 71 66 73, Romain Langasque (Fra) 71 71 68 72

283 Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 72 67 70 74, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 67 72 72 72, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 71 71 69 72, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 69 73 68 73, James Morrison 67 74 72 70, Brett Rumford (Au) 68 73 67 75, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 72 69 72 70, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 66 74 71 72, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 70 72 68 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 72 67 73

284 Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 73 73 69, Tom Lewis 71 71 68 74, Jeff Winther (Den) 69 72 69 74, Paul Lawrie 73 67 70 74, Jordan Smith 70 69 72 73, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 64 74 73 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 72 71 71

285 Joel Stalter (Fra) 67 68 74 76, Matthew Southgate 67 70 78 70, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 69 73 72 71, Andy Sullivan 70 71 71 73, Romain Wattel (Fra) 73 70 70 72, Mark Foster 69 72 73 71, Jamie Rutherford 69 71 73 72, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 70 73 69 73

286 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 72 68 76, Pontus Widegren (Swe) 69 69 74 74, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 67 73 73 73, Daniel Im (USA) 67 76 72 71, Richard McEvoy 69 72 71 74, Paul Maddy 69 73 71 73, Max Schmitt (a) (Ger) 74 67 70 75, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 71 71 73

287 Max Kramer (Aut) 70 70 73 74, Daniel Brooks 70 72 73 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 68 75 72 72, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 74 69 71 73, Graeme Storm 71 69 72 75, Johan Carlsson (Swe) 72 70 73 72

288 Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 70 73 68 77, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 70 71 75

289 David Horsey 71 72 69 77, Richard Green (Au) 69 71 75 74, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 70 73 72 74

295 Sean Crocker (a) (USA) 69 74 71 81