Joost Luiten wins Lyoness Open

Joost Luiten of Holland won the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity at Diamond Country Club in Austria by two shots from Denmark's Thomas Bjorn.

Joost Luiten wins Lyoness Open (Getty Images)

Joost Luiten of Holland won the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity at Diamond Country Club in Austria by two shots from Denmark's Thomas Bjorn.

The FootJoy staffer started the final round three shots clear of the field, but his advantage was reduced to one after the first hole. The Dutchman opened his account with a bogey, while Jorge Campillo of Spain made a birdie.

But Luiten bounced back with a birdie at the second and, despite pressure from Romain Wattel, Thomas Bjorn and Liang Wen-chong, Luiten maintained his lead until the end.

After 13 holes, play was suspended due to lightning in the area, but Luiten dealt well with the delay. The 27-year-old made a great birdie at the 16th that effectively sealed victory. He parred the final two holes to pick up his second European Tour title.

"It's been a great week so I am really, really happy," Luiten said. "It was a long day, I started off with a bogey but I hit the ball nicely so I just wanted to focus on that, hit the greens, two-putt and make the others chase me."

In the end, it was Denmark's Thomas Bjorn who finished as Luiten's closest challenger. He was disappointed to come up just short in his challenge, but was full of praise for the victor.

"I played very well at the weekend but I just didn't do enough today," he said. "Joost has been knocking on the door for a long, long time and he's a great player so I have to take my hat off to him. He played some wonderful golf this week and deserves it as much as anyone else on Tour."

France's Romain Wattel made four birdies in his first six holes to threaten for the lead, but bogeys at the 9th and 12th hampered his chances. He finished in a tie for third with Liang Wen-chong of China.

Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity Diamond Country Club, Atzenbrugg, Austria Jun 6-9, purse €1,000,000 par 72 1   Joost Luiten (Ned)   65   68   67   71   271   €166,660 2   Thomas Bjorn (Den)   71   70   64   68   273   €111,110 T3   Liang Wen-chong (Chn)   67   72   69   66   274   €56,300 T3   Romain Wattel (Fra)   68   68   69   69   274   €56,300 T5   Jorge Campillo (Esp)   70   67   66   72   275   €38,700 T5   Paul Waring (Eng)   67   67   72   69   275   €38,700 7   Eduardo De La Riva (Esp) 69   65   69   73   276   €30,000 8   Gregory Bourdy (Fra)   70   68   70   69   277   €25,000 9   Lee Slattery (Eng)   71   68   70   69   278   €22,400 T10   Lorenzo Gagli (Ita)   72   67   68   72   279   €17,925 T10   Shiv Kapur (Ind)      68   72   71   68   279   €17,925 T10   Alexander Levy (Fra)   66   75   68   70   279   €17,925 T10   Graeme Storm (Eng)   66   74   71   68   279   €17,925

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage Where next? PGA Tour - Harris English wins St. Jude Classic

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?