Dutch Open: Germany's Tobias Dier led from start to finish to claim his second European Tour title in the Dutch Open in Hilversum yesterday. Dier carded a final round 69 for a 17-under-par total and one shot victory over Jamie Spence with Australian Peter Lonard and Ireland's Padraig Harrington sharing third.

The 25-year-old collected the winner's cheque for £193,000, more than 10 times his earnings for the rest of the year after missing the cut in 12 of his last 15 events. "I don't really know what to say," said Dier, who won the North West of Ireland Open last year. "If someone had told me I would champion before the week I would have said 'Dream on'. It's like a fairytale.

"When I won in Ireland I felt very familiar with things because it was a joint event with the Challenge Tour and I knew a lot of the players. It was a bit different from this week. When you look at the entry sheet you see Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, John Daly, so this is a much bigger win for me.

"I'm sure my life will change. Last year I was seriously thinking about where the money was coming from for the rest of the season so the cheque is very welcome, and with the exemption I now have a job for the next two years."

Harrington narrowly missed an eagle putt on the last that would have given him an 18th second place of his professional career, but admitted: "I struggled all day with my clubbing with a little bit of breeze. I drove it well and had a lot of short irons but I don't think there was one I stood over that I was comfortable with. But the 15th broke my heart.

"I hit the perfect shot in with a little nine iron and it pitched 160 yards, right over the pin, right over everything. I had to be aggressive to make birdie but made bogey instead and that really killed me."

Dier's sparkling first round 60, equalling the lowest ever score on tour, gave him a five-shot cushion, and he led by three after the second and third rounds following consecutive 67s. A birdie at the seventh then took him four clear yesterday, before that gap was slowly whittled down to one. Bogeys at the eighth and 11th gave the chasing pack reason for hope, Lonard getting within a shot of the lead after a birdie at the 13th.

But Dier, who missed six cuts in a row before his win in Ireland last year, and the next five afterwards kept his nerve and eagled the 12th just ahead of playing partner Harrington to keep his nose in front.

"I hit a five-iron which was all over the pin to about seven feet but then Padraig hit it even closer," he added. "I had a downhill putt and it was a relief when it just went in, that was the important one."

Spence then set up a tense finale with an eagle from 12 feet on the last to card a closing 65 and move to 16 under, but Dier was able to par the last six holes to seal a well deserved victory.

Spence, one of the other eight players to shoot a round of 60 on the European Tour when coming from 10 shots back on the final day to win the European Masters 10 years ago, said: "I missed a four footer for birdie at the third and then was all over the place in the trees at the fourth. I was lucky to make a bogey actually so I thought it was going to be one of those days. I'm really pleased at the way I managed to turn it around."

The 39-year-old missed the cut by 11 shots in the British Open at Muirfield last week, but a quick lesson with former tour winner Peter Mitchell on Monday got him back on track.