European Amateur Champion
Delays Turning Pro

Carl Pettersson, who won the European Amateur Championship at Murhof, Austria, on Saturday, may delay turning professional for a year to take up his automatic spot in the Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes next July that his victory brings him.

After a shaky start to his final round, during which he dropped strokes at two of the first three holes, Pettersson, 22, collected six successive birdies from the seventh, on his way to a closing 66 and a 25-under-par total of 263.

That gave the Swede a five-stroke triumph over Finland's Panu Kylliainen and Graeme McDowell, the Irish champion, with Welshman Jamie Donaldson a further stroke back in fourth place.

Kylliainen took the silver medal and McDowell the bronze on account of the Finn's superior score over the final 36 holes.