Romero on top in Germany

After almost pulling off a shock Open victory eight days ago, an exhausted Andres Romero was on the verge of pulling out of the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship and returning to Argentina.

Last night the 26-year-old had 403,510 reasons to be grateful for swapping hometown Yerba Buena for Hamburg after claiming his first European Tour title at Gut Kaden.

Two clear with two to play at Carnoustie before dropping three shots in the last two holes to miss the play-off by a single shot, Romero found himself in the same position yesterday.

This time there was no mistake, though, as he finished in style with a birdie on the 18th for a closing 70 and 19-under-par total of 269, three shots ahead of England's Oliver Wilson and Denmark's Soren Hansen.

The first prize of £403,510 took Romero's earnings for the fortnight to more than £690,000 and booked his place in this week's WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron and the USPGA Championship in Oklahoma, as well as securing a five-year European Tour exemption.  

"Hopefully it will not change the way I am, but for sure, now getting more famous there's going to be a lot of people around, especially when I get to Argentina, and I'm going to probably need my privacy," Romero said.

"But I'm going to enjoy it and the first things I will do when I get there is to have a barbecue with all my friends and my family.

"I feel great, I didn't expect my first win to come this quick but I played great in the Open last week and coming here I was thinking maybe it could be my time.

"I won a lot of tournaments in Argentina and one two years ago in Manchester on the Challenge Tour but this is a big tournament with great players.

"I felt so comfortable the first eight holes until I made a double bogey on the ninth. Then I started to play a little bit different on the back nine and it was a bit harder work."

Romero was drenched in champagne by fellow Argentinian players and caddies on the 18th green, and he joked: "Well, it's a pity they threw away all that champagne, I prefer to drink it!

"But I like the way the Argentinians celebrate all the time, and I'm very happy because they treated me that way as well."

Wilson was seven shots off the pace overnight but carded a superb 66, crucially saving par from 60 yards on the last after finding sand off the tee.

It was the 26-year-old's sixth tournament in a row - along with 36 holes in one day in Open qualifying at Sunningdale - and the former Walker Cup star admitted he was in need of a long holiday.

"I'm desperate for some sunshine, I can't take any more wind and rain," the Mansfield professional said. "Before the week I said I was going to take some time off so I put everything I had into this round.

"Yesterday I was pretty bad, thinking about what not to do rather than what I wanted to do, but today I stuck with it well and to get up and down on the last for par was very nice.

"I can't wait for my holiday and this makes it a lot better. I thought after taking a few weeks I'd be nervous and be wanting to get back to playing, but after this it's made a me a bit more relaxed. It will be interesting to set some new goals for the rest of the season and see what happens."

Fellow Englishman Zane Scotland, second overnight, struggled to a 76 to slip into a share of 11th place, most of the damage done on the seventh hole.

After finding such a bad lie in heavy rough off the tee he was unable to move his ball at the first attempt, Scotland's third shot still failed to reach the fairway and, after eventually finding the green in five, he two-putted for a triple-bogey seven.
 

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