Kruger wins for first time

Kruger, ranked 159th in the world, led by one heading into the final round but had extended that to three shots with two holes to play.

The 25-year-old made bogey at the penultimate hole though and a wayward drive at the last set the nerves jangling.

But he managed to rescue a par to secure his first European Tour win and pick up a cheque for 300,000 euros.

"I'm very relieved to win for the first time," Kruger told the tour's website. "If you want to win you need to make putts on the final day and I did that today.

"It's a big relief now that I've won but I think I needed all those second-placed finishes to be able to appreciate it. There was no pressure even when I made my only bogey of the day on the 17th.

"I felt that victory was inevitable when I got to the 14th hole. I knew that I had a good chance as I had a comfortable three-shot cushion then. I like to know what's going on and I'm aware of the movements on the leaderboard."

His 14-under-par score was two better than Spain's Jorge Campillo, whose 67 was the joint-best effort of the day, and Germany's Marcel Siem.

Spain's Jose Manuel Lara finished in a tie for fourth with Marcus Fraser of Australia.

Halfway leader Peter Whiteford was still just one off the lead after the third round but was disqualified on Sunday morning after failing to report a rules infringement.

He had just started his final round but was already expecting to be disqualified for the error.

"I should have reviewed it," he said. "You can see it when you look at tv."