Image captionMarcus Kinhult birdied the last two holes at Hillside GC to beat Matt Wallace by a shot
British Masters final leaderboard, Southport
-16 M Kinhult (Swe); -15 M Wallace (Eng), E Pepperell (Eng), R MacIntyre (Sco); -12 R Ramsay (Sco); -11 P Waring (Eng), J Smith (Eng)
Selected others: -10 T Fleetwood (Eng), M Kaymer (Ger), O Wilson (Eng); – 9 R Fisher (Eng) Leaderboard

 

Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult won his maiden European Tour title by beating England’s Matt Wallace at the final hole of the British Masters.

The pair were tied on 15 under down the last, but a furious Wallace missed a 15-footer before Kinhult sunk a 10-foot birdie for a final-round 70.

England’s Eddie Pepperell finished with Wallace and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre on 15 under with a six-under 66.

Local host Tommy Fleetwood finished tied 10th after a final-round 73.

Kinhult, who birdied the last two holes where Wallace could only par, told Sky Sports: “I’m speechless. I don’t know what happened the last two hours. I was behind and Matt looked really solid but I just managed to make those two birdies.

“There’s a lot going through your mind and emotions but I’m just so happy to handle those pretty well. This game is so weird, it’s small margins.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for 20 years.”

Wallace was left frustrated on a warm day in Southport by his failure to capitalise on a one-shot lead going down 17. That came because of consecutive bogeys for 22-year-old Kinhult on 15 and 16.

The 29-year-old Englishman missed a four-foot putt for birdie on 17 and hit the 18th green with his putter after missing to the right of the hole, which would have sealed a play-off.

Kinhult, who won the prestigious Lytham Trophy as an amateur but had missed his last four cuts on the European Tour, earned a winner’s cheque of £500,000.