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Hansen eagles his way to the title

  • Story Highlights
  • Dane Soren Hansen wins the Mercedes-Benz title in Cologne.
  • He shoots two eagles in a closing round of 67 and wins by four strokes
  • Britons Phillip Archer and Alastair Forsyth are joint second
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COLOGNE, Germany -- Dane Soren Hansen fired two eagles in the closing stages of a final round of 67 as he won the Mercedes-Benz title in Cologne.

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Hansen is now seventh in the order of merit and second in the early Ryder Cup standings.

Hansen chipped in from 40 feet on the 13th hole and then sunk a 12-footer on the 15th on his way to a final round of 67 and 17-under-par total of 271 at Gut Larchenhof.

Hansen finished four shots ahead of England's Phillip Archer and Scotland's Alastair Forsyth (70).

Archer, beaten in a play-off in the European Masters seven days ago, closed with 68 to book his place in the Seve Trophy at the end of the month.

Joint overnight leader Thomas Bjorn and Wales' Bradley Dredge were a further stroke behind in fourth with Lee Westwood, four clear after an opening 61, sharing sixth place on 11 under.

Hansen, who has shown great consistency this season, moves up to seventh in the Order of Merit and second in the early Ryder Cup standings.

He said: "Throughout the week I played tremendous, the best golf I've ever played.

"I had a really good feeling coming into this event and I'm very proud to have beaten 77 of the best players in Europe.

Hansen and fellow countryman Bjorn shared the lead going into the final day and Bjorn briefly led after birdies at the first and second before a bogey on the fifth and double bogey at the next.

Two birdies took Hansen to the turn in 34 and he moved three clear of the field by chipping in from the edge of the green on the 13th for an eagle.

He wrapped up first prize with another eagle on the 15th when his three-wood approach from 273 yards to the par five took a friendly bounce to skip round the edge of a bunker and rolled up to 12ft from the hole.

Forsyth was delighted to share second after having an opening round of 76 which left him 15 shots off the pace.

"I never really got going early on so to finish second was a good result, a massive result after my first round," said the 31-year-old from Glasgow, joint third in the KLM Open in Holland three weeks ago. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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