Austria's Bernd Wiesberger saw a ninth European Tour title and potentially a Ryder Cup debut slip through his fingers after a dramatic finish to the Omega European Masters.
Wiesberger held a one-shot lead with one hole to play at Crans-sur-Sierre, only to run up a double-bogey six and finish a shot behind Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard, who had set the clubhouse target after a flawless 63.
A second victory of the season would have taken Wiesberger into the automatic qualifying places for Europe’s Ryder Cup team, with just two events remaining before Pádraig Harrington’s team is finalised.
The 35-year-old began the day three shots off the lead and was still two behind Ross McGowan with seven holes to play, but birdied the 12th and eagled the 14th to open up a two-shot lead.
A bogey on the 15th was swiftly followed by a birdie on the next to restore Wiesberger’s two-shot lead, before Hojgaard birdied the 18th to complete his last six holes in five under and pile on the pressure.
The pressure proved too much for Wiesberger to handle, a pushed tee shot into a fairway bunker on the last followed by a mis-hit approach into the pond surrounding the green.
Following a penalty drop Wiesberger hit a poor pitch on to the green and was unable to hole from 35 feet for a bogey to force a playoff.
Former British Open champion Henrik Stenson boosted his case for a Ryder Cup wild card by following up his share of fourth place in last week's Czech Masters with third place in Switzerland following a closing 63.
Northern Ireland's Jonathan Caldwell carded a two-under 68 to finish the week on level par.
FINAL SCORES
British and Irish unless stated, par 70
267 Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 68 66 70 63
268 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 67 69 65
269 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 64 71 63
270 Ross McGowan 68 64 69 69, Sean Crocker (USA) 71 65 64 70, Matthew Jordan 67 65 69 69
271 Calum Hill 68 70 67 66, Marcus Armitage 63 73 69 66, Renato Paratore (Ita) 65 66 69 71, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 67 70 69 65, Marcel Siem (Ger) 66 68 69 68, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 68 69 65 69
272 Wil Besseling (Ned) 71 66 68 67, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 67 69 70 66, Ignacio Elvira (Esp) 69 69 67 67, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 69 70 71 62, Lee Slattery 70 67 69 66
273 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 69 70 66, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 65 74 65 69, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 63 70 70 70
274 Min Woo Lee (Aus) 66 67 74 67, John Catlin (USA) 68 65 69 72, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 66 70 70 68, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 71 67 69, Oliver Wilson 70 69 67 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 70 71 67
275 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp) 69 67 70 69, Thomas Detry (Bel) 65 65 74 71, James Morrison 60 74 70 71, Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 67 66 73 69, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 70 69 67 69
276 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 64 71 69, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 68 64 69 75, Justin Harding (Rsa) 66 66 74 70, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 68 67 72, Paul Peterson (USA) 65 73 66 72, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 68 68 73, Gavin Green (Mal) 74 65 69 68, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 64 71 69
277 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 66 67 74 70, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 71 66 71 69, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 64 65 73 75, Andy Sullivan 64 66 73 74, Bryden MacPherson (Aus) 69 68 68 72, Jeff Winther (Den) 70 67 69 71, Ashley Chesters 67 71 71 68
278 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 70 68 68 72, Richard McEvoy 70 68 68 72, Scott Jamieson 67 67 72 72
279 Victor Perez (Fra) 68 68 73 70, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 68 68 67 76, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 67 70 71 71
280 Andrea Pavan (Ita) 68 71 72 69, Jonathan Caldwell (N Irl) 70 68 74 68, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 67 71 72 70
281 Wade Ormsby (Aus) 69 69 74 69, Julian Suri (USA) 72 65 72 72, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 65 74 69 73, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 69 68 76 68
282 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 67 72 74 69, Andrew Johnston 68 66 75 73
283 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 69 69 72 73, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 70 69 73 71, Hugo Leon (Chi) 70 68 74 71
284 Pietro Bovari (Ita) 65 74 70 75, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 69 68 79 68
285 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 70 73 73, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 68 71 74 72, Robin Roussel (Fra) 68 70 76 71
287 Ronan Kleu (Swi) 68 70 75 74
288 Raphael Ger Sousa (Swi) 73 66 75 74
290 Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 68 69 76 77
293 KyongJun Moon (Kor) 67 72 76 78
