Donald claims first European Tour title

Britain's Luke Donald won his first European Tour title with a five-shot victory at the Scandinavian Masters on Sunday, to boost his chances of a place on the European team at next month's Ryder Cup.

The 26-year-old, who plays most of his golf on the U.S. PGA Tour and was competing in only his ninth European Tour event as a professional, closed with a three-under-par 69 to total 16-under-par 272.

"This is a very important win in my career," Donald said.

"It will increase my confidence no bounds and I'm looking forward to going into the PGA now.

"This opens up a lot of doors and it's given my Ryder Cup chances a great boost."

Donald finished five strokes ahead of Swedes Peter Hanson and Henrik Stenson, with fellow-Britons and Ryder Cup rivals Colin Montgomerie and Ian Poulter two further shots adrift in joint fourth place.

After bogeying the last two holes on Saturday, to reduce his overnight lead to three strokes, Donald was looking for a steady start and achieved it with a level-par front-nine, although he needed a 40-foot birdie putt to stay level.

With none of the other contenders closing in, Donald increased his advantage with birdies on 13, another big putt, and 14, and extended it with a closing birdie.

A $323,000 first prize, 266,660 Ryder Cup points and a climb to 10th on the world points table, moved him firmly into the Ryder Cup race.

There could be a further lift to his hopes of a Cup debut with a place in the NEC World Golf Championship the week after the U.S. PGA Championship, if he moves into the world top 50 from his 63rd place before his win.

After success in the 2002 Southern Farm Bureau Classic on the U.S. Tour and a narrow playoff defeat to John Daly in this year's Buick Invitational, Donald made his European breakthrough in the tournament in which he finished third last year.

While he is sure his win will have put him on Bernhard Langer's short-list for a wild card, Donald is hopeful of playing his way into the Oakland Hills match.

"This has brought me closer to that," he said.

Poulter and Montgomerie, still only 19th in the European table, will fly to America now with their Ryder Cup hopes high, either through qualifying or with a wild card.

Montgomerie looked as though he would set a tough target when racing to 11-under, picking up seven birdies in 15 holes, but he failed to birdie the long 16th and then finished bogey-bogey to fade to a 67 and take the pressure off.

But with 21 birdies and an eagle during the week, he felt he should have taken his fourth Scandinavian Masters title.

"There's no question I should have won again," he said. "I went back to the way I was swinging in '99, without suffering any back pain, so I could get through the ball.

"This was my best performance for many, many years and I can take that to America."

Poulter's 65 served as a reminder to his Ryder Cup rivals that he is determined to hang on to a top-10 automatic qualifying place, having missed out by one spot in 2001.

He now holds eighth place on the European Ryder Cup table.

Ireland's Peter Lawrie, the 2003 European rookie of the year, broke the Barseback course record by a stroke with a 64 that included an eagle-two, as he went from just making the cut on Friday, 53rd place on Saturday, to eighth, 10 shots back.

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