Lafeber gains maiden Tour victory

Maarten Lafeber became the first home player to win the Dutch Open for 56 years when he when he claimed his maiden European Tour title on Sunday.

He won by a stroke from Denmark's Soren Hansen and Swede Mathias Gronberg.

"I wanted to win so badly over the last few months and to win here means so much to me, the support was unbelievable and it's a dream come true," said Lafeber.

Although the 28-year-old Dutchman from nearby Amsterdam trailed overnight leader Hansen by three strokes early in the final round, a closing three-under-par 67 for 13-under-par 267, provided him with an emotional victory in front of a tumultuous gallery.

Hansen's advantage was wiped out at the ninth hole, which he double-bogeyed, and a three-shot swing with Lafeber birdying the hole set up the $193,260 first victory for the Dutchman.

The last time a Dutch player won the title was in 1947 when Joop Ruhl prevailed at Eindhoven, by coincidence Lafeber's birthplace.

It was a long overdue success for Lafeber, who was the second Dutch winner of the year after Robert-Jan Derksen took the Dubai Desert Classic title in early March and the third for the country on the European Tour, Rolf Muntz being the other Netherlands champion.

Lafeber had been knocking on the door for the past two years and finished fourth in his last tournament, the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

He achieved his success with a faultless final round of three birdies and no dropped shots after trailing Hansen, who was looking for his second title to go with last year's Irish Open success, by a stroke overnight.

The Dutchman has been working with world number two Ernie Els's sports psychologist, Jos Vanstiphout, all year and he praised the Belgian for his advice.

"Jos said 'just stay patient and don't get ahead of yourself', and when I was three strokes behind I remembered the message."

Hansen battled back well following his errors before the turn and still had a chance to force a playoff if he could have holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

The Dane was gracious in defeat, saying: "I'm glad for Maarten because his win has been due for a long time."

Gronberg's 65 gave him a chance of a fourth victory but the Swede's three-putt from 30 feet to only par the long 12th proved costly.

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