Donald masters Swiss course

Luke Donald kept his cool in the Swiss mountains today to see off two of his more distinguished Ryder Cup team-mates and win the Omega European Masters.

Luke Donald today vindicated Bernhard Langer’s decision to hand him the final wild card for next month’s Ryder Cup by romping to victory in the Omega European Masters.

It was the 26-year-old’s second European tour win in a month after his triumph in the Scandinavian Masters and it mirrored the achievement of 31-year-old American Stewart Cink, who celebrated his Detroit backdoor call-up with a World Championship success.

Donald produced four thrilling rounds of golf which matched the stunning setting at the Crans-sur-Sierre club high in the Swiss mountains to finish five shots clear of the field.

He looked anything but a rookie as he came from a shot behind to beat overnight leader Miguel Angel Jimenez into second place.

The man from Hemel Hempstead faced a daunting test of his nerves as he went out in the final group on the final day in the same group as Jimenez and Sergio Garcia.

After starting so well, Garcia became more erratic with every hole and eventually conceded defeat after going out of bounds on the 14th for a double bogey.

Jimenez also failed to supply the fireworks of the previous three days and carded a one-over final round to open the gate for the rookie, who will stand alongside him in Detroit.

Donald gave Langer and his own travelling contingent some hairy moments by missing two short putts at the 11th and the unlucky 13th to settle for bogeys.

But he never lost his position at the top of the leaderboard after holing an eagle at the par-five first.

Each time he dropped a shot he responded courageously with a birdie to card a round of 66 to finish on 19 under and five clear of nearest rival Jimenez to secure only his second win on the European tour after his Scandinavian Masters success a month ago.

Garcia's collapse will have concerned Langer and he finished joint third at 13 under with former king of the mountains Eduardo Romero and England's Robert Coles.

Ernie Els missed out on the chance to emulate Seve Ballesteros’ feat of retaining this title and he found green-side water on the final hole to finish alone on 11 under and one shot behind Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell.

The South African groaned: “It wasn’t nice to us out there today.

“It was rush, wait, rush and wait so I didn’t find any rhythm. I had a chance on the back nine but I hit too many bad shots.”