Golf: Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen claimed his maiden European Tour title today, holding off a strong late challenge from England's Chris Wood, who equalled the course record at the Sicilian Open with a brilliant eight-under-par 64 at the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort.
However, overnight leader Olesen held his nerve to post a 69 and win by one shot on 15 under.
Twenty-two-year-old Dane Olesen had a mixed opening, carding two bogeys and two birdies over his first five holes. He had started the day with a three-shot advantage but soon found himself pegged back today as Wood joined him on 14 under.
The 24-year-old from Bristol, himself seeking his first Tour crown, was five under through five after birdies on the second, third and fifth holes and an eagle on four, and had advanced to eight under for the day to earn a share of the lead with six holes remaining.
He picked up another shot with a further birdie on 14 but blotted his copybook with a bogey on the par-five 17th, which ultimately proved costly.
Olesen dropped a shot on 13 but got straight back on track with a birdie on 14 and then got over the line by parring the last four holes.
Olesen's compatriot Soren Kjeldsen (68) and Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts (69) finished tied for third with Spain's Jose Manuel Lara (68) a further stroke back in fifth despite three bogeys on his back nine.
Shanr Lowry was on course to go low but consecutive bogeys at 17 and 18, saw him post a 67 that left him 10 under in a tie for sixth. A 69 left Gareth Maybin on eight under, while Peter Lawrie, who led coming into the weekend, shot a 73 to drop back to seven under.
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Sicilian Open, Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, Sicily, Italy
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):
273 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 68 69 67 69
274 Chris Wood 67 71 72 64
276 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65 72 71 68, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 67 71 69 69
277 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 70 70 68
278 Anthony Wall 69 72 71 66, Andrew Parr (Can) 71 69 67 71, Shane Lowry 67 70 74 67
279 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 67 74 70 68, Tano Goya (Arg) 65 73 72 69
280 John Daly (USA) 71 67 72 70, Gareth Maybin 68 73 70 69, Tim Sluiter (Ned) 69 71 71 69, Rich Beem (USA) 69 69 73 69, Richard Green (Aus) 67 70 74 69, Tom Lewis 68 73 70 69, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 66 75 69, Graeme Storm 68 73 69 70
281 Sihwan Kim (Nor) 67 73 72 69, Alex Haindl (Rsa) 66 74 74 67, Richie Ramsay 71 69 76 65, Scott Pinckney (USA) 69 70 70 72, Peter Lawrie 64 72 72 73, Lloyd Saltman 71 68 69 73, Scott Jamieson 68 73 74 66, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 71 75 68
282 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 69 71 74 68, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 69 73 72, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 68 77 69, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 71 67 75 69
283 Steve Webster 70 71 68 74, Phillip Price 70 70 71 72, Richard McEvoy 68 70 75 70, Ben Mannix 72 68 73 70, Lloyd Kennedy 70 71 75 67, James Morrison 66 74 75 68
284 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 68 76 69, Matthew Baldwin 70 71 71 72, David Lynn 67 69 79 69, Simon Wakefield 69 67 74 74
285 Craig Lee 67 73 73 72, Wil Besseling (Ned) 71 70 74 70, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 70 67 74 74, Alastair Forsyth 67 72 76 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 69 77 70, Victor Riu (Fra) 66 72 74 73
286 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 71 68 75 72, Sam Hutsby 67 70 78 71, Gary Orr 66 73 75 72, Andrea Maestroni (Ita) 69 71 75 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 71 67 77 71, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 69 77 70, Scott Strange (Aus) 70 69 77 70
287 Do-Hoon Kim 752 (Kor) 68 71 79 69, Robert Coles 69 69 80 69
288 Richard Bland 69 72 75 72, Jordi Garcia (Spa) 68 72 75 73, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 66 73 76 73, Paul Broadhurst 69 70 77 72
289 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 73 68 75 73, Taco Remkes (Ned) 70 70 75 74, Andrew Marshall 71 70 76 72
290 Jamie Donaldson 65 71 80 74
293 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 70 77 77
294 Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 69 70 81 74
