Luiten wins by 2 in Austria

Atzenbrugg, Austria – Joost Luiten shot 1-under 71 on Sunday and won the Lyoness Open by a pair of strokes.

Luiten finished at 17-under-par 271 and secured his second European Tour victory. The Dutchman's maiden win on the circuit came at the 2011 Johor Open.

"It's been a great week so I am really, really happy," said the 27-year-old Luiten. "It was a long day, I started off with a bogey but I hit the ball nicely so I just wanted to focus on that, hit the greens, 2-putt and make the others chase me."

Thomas Bjorn birdied his final hole at Diamond Country Club to wrap up a final-round 68 and grab solo second at 15-under.

Wen-Chong Liang fired a 66, the low round of the day, and jumped into a share of third place at 14-under. He finished alongside Romain Wattel, who carded a 69.

Paul Waring (69) and Jorge Campillo (72) tied for fifth at 13-under, Eduardo De la Riva (73) placed seventh at 12-under, Gregory Bourdy (69) took eighth at 11-under and Lee Slattery (69) ended in ninth at minus-10.

Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger carded a final-round 69 and tied for 14th at 8-under. He needed to finish inside the top 12 to qualify for next week's U.S. Open.

On Thursday, Luiten began his opening round with four straight birdies, setting the tone for a dominant performance. He was behind by two strokes after the first round, jumped ahead by a single stroke on Friday and pushed that advantage to three heading into Sunday.

Luiten threatened to give away the lead early in the final round, as he missed a 4-foot par putt on the opening hole, and his playing partner, Campillo, birdied, slicing the margin to one.

A birdie on the next provided brief relief before Wattel picked up his fourth birdie of the round at No. 6, again closing the gap to a single stroke.

Wattel slowed, however, tripping to a bogey at the ninth, and Luiten added a gain at the par-5 seventh, pushing his lead back to three strokes at the turn.

The advantage didn't dip below two for the rest of the tournament.

Luiten dropped a shot at the par-3 11th, allowing Bjorn and Liang, who both played their inward nines at 3-under, to get within a pair. While on the 14th hole, the leader endured a brief rain delay, then notched consecutive pars before dropping his approach within five feet at the 16th and drilling the putt for birdie.

He parred out to secure the victory.

"Unfortunately I made a few mistakes on the greens and didn't make a lot of putts, but in the end I was three clear after my birdie on 16 and that gave me a little bit of air," said Luiten. "It's always nice to finish par, par and hold the trophy."

NOTES: Luiten will climb into the top 100 of the official world golf rankings with the win. He was ranked No. 137 at the start of this tournament. His win at the 2011 Johor Open also featured a rain delay ... Luiten has two career Challenge Tour victories, at the 2007 Vodafone Challenge and the 2007 A.G.F. Allianz Golf Open de Toulouse ... A top-12 finish would have pushed Wiesberger into the top 60 in the official world golf rankings and allowed him to qualify for the U.S. Open.