Finland’s Mikko Illonen has defeated top seed Henrik Stenson of Sweden in the final of the Volvo World Match-Play Championship in England.
Ilonen fought back from being 1 down after four holes to defeat the World No. 5 ranked Swede 3 & 1 on the London Club course at Ash in Kent.
It is the 34-year old Finn’s fifth Tour victory and his second this season after winning the Irish Open.
Victory should see Ilonen move to around 37th on the World Rankings and the assurance should he remain in the top-50 at year’s end of a first Masters invitation since making his debut in 2001 as the then British Amateur champion.
And despite the loud roar of the British Superbike Grand Prix taking place at nearby Brands Hatch, Ilonen remained calm and composed in dealing with last year’s European and PGA Tour No. 1.
Mikko Ilonen captures the 2014 Volvo World Match-Play Championship. (Photo – David Lloyd/www.golffile.ie)
“The game plan was not to make any mistakes as you can’t afford any mistakes against a player like Henrik, and while I didn’t play so well this morning I didn’t make any mistakes this afternoon against Henrik,” said Ilonen.
“I definitely felt really comfortable going into the final and felt like I had a good chance to beat him and I did.”
Three years ago Ilonen’s career was in chaos having suffered an ankle injury that required surgery and kept him side-lined for the second half of the 2011 season.
However after falling to 334th on the World Rankings early in 2012 Ilonen has continued to improve finishing 23rd on the money list last year and now has won twice this year.
“When I came back from surgery I set my goals high enough and while I am not quite where I want to be this year, I definitely have a chance to reach what I set myself a couple of years ago,” said Ilonen.
“But I stand here as a proud champion and to beat a player of Henrik’s stature in the final is amazing.”
Stenson had seized the early initiative winning the fourth with a birdie won the next with a par and went 1up with a birdie at the eighth and from there on was never headed moving to 2up at the 11th and 3up at the next.
Stenson, who was looking to become the first player to capture the Volvo World Match-Play Championship and WGC – Accenture Match-Play title winning double, won the 13th with a birdie but Ilonen hit back immediately to stay 3up at the 14th.
However Stenson then birdied the par five 15 to get back to 2 down before both played pared the 16th and with Stenson conceding his opponents birdie putt at the 17th.
“I have exceeded my expectations for the week for sure but when Jonas (Blixt) took me to the 18th yesterday I felt like I was running low on energy,” said Stenson.
“It was the same thing against George this morning in the semi-final I don’t know where I found the energy to finish it off this morning, so I was quite low on energy this afternoon and I also feel like I have been battling my swing in these windy conditions.
“But no question as the better player won and he didn’t make many mistakes.”
Victory earned Ilonen his highest Tour prize cheque of Euro 650,000 ($US 830,000) and Euro 316,670 ($US 404,000) more than his previous biggest cash prize in winning June’s Irish Open.
It has seen Ilonen jump from 17th to inside the top-10 on the Race to Dubai money list.
As well, success will also see Ilonen move from his current 52nd world ranking and inside the top-40 and the assurance at year’s end of a first Masters Invitation since making his Augusta National debut in 2001 as the then reigning British Amateur champion.
However with Volvo withdrawing their sponsorship from both the World Math-Play Championship and what has been the yearly-starting Volvo Champions, it means that unless a new sponsor can be found Ilonen will miss out the luxury of being exempt into the two tournaments.
In the play-off for third place Holland’s Joost Luiten defeated South African George Coetzee at the first extra hole after both players ended their match all square.
