Olesen hangs on for 3-shot win at Perth International

Perth, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Thorbjorn Olesen carded a 1-under 71 in Sunday's final round and he was able to survive a couple scares and earn a 3-shot victory at the ISPS Handa Perth International.

Olesen, who led after three of the four rounds this week, finished at 17- under-par 271, which was three shots better than runner-up Victor Dubuisson. Olesen now has two wins on the European Tour.

"It's been a couple of years since I won last time, so this gives me a lot of confidence and belief for the last bit of the season," Olesen said. "This has been a great week and I've really enjoyed being here."

Dubuisson vaulted up the leaderboard and was able to get within one shot of Olesen at one point, but a 6-under 66 was not enough as the European Ryder Cup team member finished second at 14-under 274 at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

Mark Foster shot a 69 to finish in third at 12-under 276, while Matthew Griffin (67), Steve Dartnall (70), Lucas Bjerregaard (70), David Drysdale (71) and James Morrison (73) tied for fourth at minus-11.

Second-round leader Peter Whiteford struggled on his way to a 6-over 78 and he finished tied for 35th at 3-under 285. John Wade, who was tied with Olesen atop the leaderboard after round one, shot his third straight round in the 70s with a 77 and he ended tied for 53rd at even-par 288.

Starting with a 3-shot lead, Olesen extended his advantage to four with a birdie on No. 3 after a pair of pars to start the round. Following two more pars from No. 4, Olesen tripped to a bogey on No. 6, dropping his lead back to three shots. He rebounded right away, however, with a birdie on seven to get back to 17-under.

After two birdies on one and seven on the front nine, Dubuisson began to make his charge on the back nine with a little help from Olesen. Bogeys by Olesen on Nos. 10 and 12 dropped him back to minus-15, while Dubuisson made four birdies in a five-hole stretch from No. 11 to pull within one shot.

Olesen came through when it mattered most, however, while Dubuisson could not do enough on his final three holes. While Dubuisson made a trio of pars to end his round, Olesen drained birdies on 13 and 15 to get his lead back to three. He closed things out with three pars to secure his second victory on tour.

"I missed a few short putts today in the middle of the round and I think that the lead got down to one shot, but I was just thinking about getting my round back to under par, keeping focused and seeing if I could make a few birdies coming in," Olesen said. "It was a tough day, but it was worth it -- that walk down 18 was beautiful."

Foster drained back-to-back birdies on two and three to get to minus-2 for the day. Another gain on six had Foster at 3-under and he made the turn there after three pars from No. 7.

Foster was quiet on the back nine as he made a birdie on 11 and a bogey on 13 to go along with seven pars.

NOTES: Entering the day in second place, Sihwan Kim shot a 3-over 75 and finished tied for ninth at 10-under 278. Kim and Whiteford needed to finish second or better in order to keep their tour cards ... Olesen's 71 was his only round in the 70s this week ... Olesen's only other win on tour came at the 2012 Sicilian Open ... After shooting a 64 on Thursday, Wade went 72-75-77 in the final three rounds ... The top 111 in the Race to Dubai standings keep their tour cards next year ... With the win, Olesen earned 198,300 euros ... Next week, the European Tour kicks off the Final Series at the BMW Masters in China, where Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won last year.