There was no home challenge at the Irish Open but there was still plenty of drama on the final day at Royal County Down.
Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen beat England's Eddie Pepperell and Austria's Bernd Wiesberger in a play-off to win his fourth European Tour title.
Kjeldsen started the day with a two shot lead on 7 under but a round of 76 dropped him back to 2 under as he struggled in the strong winds.
The trio went back down the par-five 18th for a sudden death playoff and Wiesberger was the only one not to find the fairway. He could only make par and Pepperell who didn’t drop a shot all day also made 5.
That meant for the second time on the final day Kjeldson knew a birdie would win him the tournament and when he hit his second shot inside 30 feet he was in the driving seat to claim the win.
The Dane left himself a short putt to win and the ball did a lap of the hole before it eventually dropped to give the 40 year old his first win in six years:
Tournament host and world number one Rory McIlroy was there to present Kjeldsen with his trophy and the newly crowned Irish Open champion picked up a cheque for €416,000.
Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke finished best of the Irish on 6 over, one ahead of Graeme McDowell. Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry both ended up on 10 over and Simon Thornton finished 14 over.
Paul McGinley withdrew from the tournament this morning with a back injury.
