VIRGINIA WATER, England — Britain's Chris Wood survived an attack of back-nine jitters to achieve the biggest victory of his career by winning the BMW PGA Championship by one stroke from Swede Rikard Karlberg Sunday.
Wood claimed the first prize of 833,330 euros ($926,079) on another warm summer's day at Wentworth after shooting a closing three-under-par 69 to finish on nine-under 279 at the European Tour's flagship event.
The 28-year-old Englishman equaled compatriot Danny Willett's tournament record outward half of 29 set earlier in the week as he reeled off birdies at the first, fifth, seventh and ninth and an eagle three at the fourth.
The 6-foot-6 (1.98-metre) Wood then dropped three strokes in four holes from the 14th before calming his nerves with a par-five at the last that prompted a huge roar of delight from his home crowd.
"Amazing, this is so hard to put into words at the moment," he told reporters after clinching his third tour win.
"I've got my best friends, my fiancee, my family, it is so, so special to win in front of them. And when I play here every year I get great support.
"There's a special feel about playing in England and, yeah, I wish we could do it every week."
Wood, who also won the 2013 Qatar Masters and 2015 Lyoness Open in Austria, is now set to climb into the world's top 25 after starting the week in 54th spot.
In addition, he gains a tour exemption until the end of the 2021 season and a three-year exemption into the British Open.
Wood's triumph also takes him a giant step closer to securing a debut appearance in Europe's Ryder Cup side at Hazeltine, Minnesota in September.
"That's been sort of on the fringe of my mind but I knew events like this were key to making the team," he said.
"You can't plan to win events like this. You can plan to prepare as well as you can but to pull it off is massive."
Karlberg compiled the best round of the day, a hole-in-one at the second helping him to a 65 for 280.
There was no prize on offer there but James Morrison won a car from the sponsors worth about 95,000 pounds ($138,918) after recording an ace at the 14th. The Briton, however, finished down the field after signing off with a 75 for 291.
US Masters champion Willett posted a 71 to take third place on 281, one ahead of French pair Romain Wattel and Julien Quesne, and South African Thomas Aiken.
Overnight leader Scott Hend of Australia surrendered his title chances with a woeful front-nine 41 as he slumped to a 78 for 285.
