Hanson stays focused on success

Peter Gustafsson insisted that fellow Swede Peter Hanson bought him dinner last night – after being beaten by him in a play-off for the Spanish Open at San Roque.

In a sudden-death shoot-out between two players both trying for their first European Tour title, Hanson prevailed with a par four, Gustafsson missing the green badly, pitching 12 feet past and then lipping out.

The win earned 27-year-old Hanson £190,614 (€278,700), so buying dinner for his friend was no problem.

And it also gave him a chance to explain why he did not respond when Gustafsson, winner of the tour qualifying school on the same course in November, started chatting to him at the start of the play-off.

“I just wanted to keep my mind on what I was doing,” said Hanson. “I don’t know what exactly I said to him, but I think he got the hint.”

It was a victory earned the hard way. Hanson was joint leader after the first round, one ahead at halfway and two clear with 18 holes to go.

“You want to put yourself in stressful situations like that and to pull it off is a great feeling,” he said.