HILVERSUM, Netherlands, 9 August 2004 — Britain’s David Lynn eased past a faltering Richard Green of Australia to win his maiden European Tour title at the Dutch Open yesterday.

Lynn’s closing four-under-par 66 left him three strokes ahead of Green and Ireland’s Paul McGinley as he became the 11th first-time winner of the European season.

Green carded a 72 for a 16-under-par total of 264, while McGinley’s 65 at Hilversum allowed him to steal a march on his Ryder Cup rivals.

Lynn led the first round with a 63 but Green took over for the next two rounds, twice heading the field by three strokes.

But after extending his lead over Lynn to four shots with an opening birdie, the Australian stalled to let in his playing partner for the $240,000 first prize.

While Green was hoping to break a run of seven years without a European victory and McGinley was trying to move up the Ryder Cup table, Lynn’s agenda was to finish one better than his second places in the 1996 Austrian and 2001 Moroccan Opens. The 30-year-old Englishman, who had his career-best round of 63 on the first day, did that in style with two stunning putts, picking up three birdies before the turn and two more coming home.

Lynn marked his ball with an 1891 ‘Queen’s Shilling’ traditionally carried by British soldiers in wartime, which was given to him by his father after he lost his Wedgwood China ball-marker the previous week.

Green’s long run without success since beating Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam in a playoff for the 1997 Dubai Desert Classic title continued as he had to settle for his third second place of the season.

McGinley’s fine finish took him past Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell into 15th place in the combined Ryder Cup table, leaving Britons Ian Poulter and David Howell in his wake.

McDowell rallied with a 67 to be nine shots behind Lynn, but a triple-bogey on the short 13th ended Poulter’s hopes of moving above Howell, who closed with a 67 to finish in eighth spot in the table. Poulter stayed ninth, with the top-10 gaining automatic qualification into Bernhard Langer’s European team for next month’s match against the United States.

DiMarco, Pampling Share

Lead at PGA International

In Castle Rock, Colorado, American Chris DiMarco clung to a share of the lead after three rounds of the International Saturday, tied with Australian Rod Pampling in the uniquely scored PGA Tour event.

Eight bogeys saw DiMarco’s commanding second-round lead whittled to nothing, as he was joined by Pampling on 29 points in the event using the modified Stableford scoring format. German Alex Cejka was one point back on 28, while Tom Pernice and Bob Tway were a further point down. “It could have been worse,” DiMarco said. “I was lucky not to make a couple of doubles out there. To make eight bogeys and not throw in a double bogey is pretty good. My theory is that in this format bogeys will not kill you, but doubles will.”