Andres Romero back to winning ways at BMW International

Argentina's Andres Romero secured his first European Tour title in 10 years with a superb final round 65 in the BMW International Open in Munich.

Andres Romero of Argentina claimed victory in the BMW International Open after a thrilling final round at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried. Romero produced a fabulous final round of 65 to finish one clear of Belgium’s Thomas Detry, Richard Bland of England and Masters champion Sergio Garcia.

Romero looked to be heading for a solid finish midway through his final round but a victory seemed unlikely until he picked up birdies at the 8th and 9th holes, then three in a row from the 13th.

As the Argentinian began to make gains, the other contenders started to falter and, with three to play, four players held the lead – Romero, Richard Bland, Thomas Detry and Sergio Garcia.

Romero birdied the final hole to post a four-round total of 271. Belgium’s Detry then had a chance to match the Argentinian but he failed to convert his birdie chance on the last.

Sergio bogeyed the 16th and England’s Richard Bland bogeyed the 17th to drop two shots behind. Both needed to eagle the last to force a playoff. Garcia missed the green with his second and couldn’t hole the pitch, Bland hit a great shot to within 12 feet of the pin but the putt slipped by. They had to settle for a share of second place.

Romero took the win, his first on the European Tour since the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of 2007.

“I'm really happy, after ten years without winning on the European Tour, and especially here in Germany,” he said. “I haven't been in that position for a long time, so it felt a little funny, but only on that 18th hole, because I was playing great golf.”

3 Talking points from the BMW International Open

1 – Andres Romero was a tournament invite in Munich. He hadn’t even played a regular European Tour event since the 2012 BMW Masters and hadn’t secured a top-10 finish on the circuit since the BMW PGA Championship of 2008. He now has a two-year exemption on the Tour. “I'm very happy that I'm going to be here on the European Tour again. I enjoy it here and I want to say thanks to the people at BMW because if it wasn't for them - they gave me an invite for this event - I wouldn’t have any category now, and this is going to be life-changing.”

2 – Sergio Garcia came up just one shot shy of forcing a playoff but The Masters champion was pleased for Romero. “It was a good week but I just fell short,” he said. “You have to give credit to Andres. With no status, on either the European or PGA Tour, to go out there and shoot 65, that’s good going. I’m happy for him and we’ll just keep trying.”

3 – It was a great week for 24-year-old Thomas Detry of Belgium. He’s jumped to 53rd on the Race to Dubai. This was just his 17th European Tour appearance and it was his best finish to date. He played some superb golf to close with a 66 and he had a chance to tie Romero at the top but just missed his birdie chance on the final hole. "You always have that little bit of a sour feeling in yourself when you finish just short. But overall, I’m super happy with the way I played. It's my first top two ever on the European Tour, and it's fantastic. I couldn't be happier and I'm very excited for the weeks ahead. My game is feeling great, and who knows, maybe in the next few weeks I can win,” he said.

BMW International Open Golfclub Munchen Eichenried, Munich, Germany Jun 22-25 Purse: €2,000,000

1    Andres Romero (Arg)    67    71    68    65    271    €333,330 T2    Thomas Detry (Bel)    65    71    70    66    272    €149,140 T2    Richard Bland (Eng)    67    69    67    69    272    €149,140 T2    Sergio Garcia (Esp)    66    70    67    69    272    €149,140 5    Rikard Karlberg (Swe)    67    69    72    66    274    €84,800 T6    Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 67    71    70    67    275    €65,000 T6    Renato Paratore (Ita)    70    70    67    68    275    €65,000 T8    Nacho Elvira (Esp)    72    70    68    66    276    €47,400 T8    Hennie Otto (RSA)    68    69    70    69    276    €47,400 T10    Henrik Stenson (Swe)    67    69    72    69    277    €38,400 T10    David Lipsky (USA)    71    69    67    70    277    €38,400

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage