Lynn edged out by resurgent Lara

(GETTY IMAGES)

Spain's Jose Manuel Lara won his second European Tour title and saved his tour card after getting the better of England's David Lynn in a play-off at the Austrian Open yesterday.

Lara had missed nine successive cuts before finishing fourth at last week's KLM Open in the Netherlands, and the confidence from that performance carried him to an emotional triumph in Atzenbrugg.

The 33-year-old from Valencia surged up the leaderboard from eighth place overnight after closing with 10 birdies and two bogeys in an eight-under-par 64. That meant he finished tied on 17-under 271 for the tournament with the Stoke-based Lynn, who carded 68, as the pair overtook the English overnight leader Danny Willett, who finished with three successive bogeys.

Returning to the par-four 18th, Lynn found trouble in rough on the right, behind a grass bank and almost in a bunker, from where he could only trundle the ball halfway to the green.

Lara's tee shot was not perfect, finding light rough on the left, but he still reached the putting surface with his second shot. Lynn pitched his third to around 15 feet before Lara putted to four feet. The pressure was on the 37-year-old Englishman and he failed to hole his testing putt, but Lara found the heart of the hole to take victory with a par.

Willett, the 22-year-old from Yorkshire, had to settle for a share of third place on 14 under par, alongside Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and Alexander Noren of Sweden.