Bernd Wiesberger’s hopes of securing a spot on the European Ryder Cup team were dented after the Austrian’s final-hole stumble handed Rasmus Hojgaard the European Masters title in Switzerland.
With the Dane in the clubhouse on 13 under par, Wiesberger played the 18th with a one-shot lead.
However, the 35-year-old found water with his approach from the bunker, resulting in a costly double bogey.
A win would have moved Wiesberger inside the automatic Ryder Cup places.
But having bounced back from a dropped shot at the 15th with a birdie on the next, the pressure showed as the world number 71 pushed his tee shot at the 18th into a fairway bunker.
After watching playing partner Marcel Siem hit his approach from the same trap into the stands behind the green, Wiesberger mis-hit his approach and the ball dropped into the pond protecting the green.
Getting up-and-down for a bogey would have forced a play-off, but after a poor pitch on to the green, he was unable to hole his 35-foot putt.
The eight-time European Tour winner still has the chance to earn a place in Padraig Harrington’s team with the Ryder Cup qualifying process set to end at the conclusion of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on 12 September.
While Wiesberger will be left to rue his stuttering finish, Hojgaard closed with a bogey-free seven-under 63 at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in the Swiss Alps, which included five birdies and an eagle.
It is a third European Tour title for 20-year-old, who led the Cazoo Classic in Kent with 18 holes remaining two weeks ago only to finish two strokes behind Scotland’s Calum Hill.
England’s Matthew Jordan had the chance to catch the Dane with a birdie-birdie finish, but a bogey at the par-four 17th ended the 25-year-old’s hopes of a maiden title.
Jordan finished alongside fellow Englishman Ross McGowan and American Sean Crocker in a tie for fourth, one shot behind 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson, who is also trying to play his way into Harrington’s thoughts for a potential captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin at the end of September.
Roussin-Bouchard wins Skafto Open in second professional event
France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard held her nerve to win the European Ladies Tour’s Skafto Open in Sweden in just her second tournament as a professional.
The 21-year-old former amateur world number one, who shot a stunning nine-under-par 60 in Saturday’s third round, parred the final hole to beat Sweden’s Linn Grant and Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher by a shot.
Having kept bogeys off her card on Saturday, Roussin-Bouchard mixed three dropped shots with four birdies to card a one-under 68.
Grant, also chasing her first win, fell just short despite closing with three birdies in her final four holes to sign for a 62.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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