Edfors Secures Barclays Scottish Open

An outstanding final round of 63 catapulted Sweden?s Johan Edfors past a host of big-name players on Sunday, enabling him to secure an unlikely victory in the 2006 Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

The 30-year old eventually clinched his third victory of the season by two shots, having started the final round six strokes behind the overnight leaders Darren Clark and Thomas Bjorn. Neither of those two experienced players could match their earlier form, and they both struggled to one-over-par totals of 72 in the final round.

The foundation for Edfors? victory was an amazing run of nine birdies in fourteen holes, part of which took him to the turn in 30. He found himself at the top of the leaderboard early in the final round, and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. It was a long and agonising wait for the Swede, who finished some two hours ahead of Clarke and Bjorn.

?It was a tough wait,? he said after picking up the trophy.

?I played well on Thursday and Friday so, despite not scoring well in the third round, I knew my game was thereabouts.?

England?s Luke Donald warmed up for this week?s Open Championship by carding an impressive final round of 66, which enabled him to finish joint second alongside Argentina?s Andres Romero and Charl Schwartzel of South Africa. Donald also moved closer to securing automatic qualification for the European Ryder Cup team, which begins in Ireland in September.

Clarke will be bitterly disappointed to have played poorly again in the final round, and it remains four years since he has been able to clinch a victory on the European Tour. Of the other big names, both Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia enjoyed decent final rounds and completed their preparations for Hoylake by finishing in a tie for ninth place, while defending champion Tim Clark shot a final round 69 to finish level with Bjorn and Clarke on -10.

Key Moment: Edfors reaches the turn in 30, and then fires three consecutive birdies at the start of the back nine.

Quote, unquote: ?I said to myself ?if you can make nine birdies on Thursday then you can do it again??. Edfors explains the reasoning behind the belief that he could win.