Colin Montgomerie, furious after bogeys at the last two holes, and Ian Poulter shared fourth place on nine under after closing rounds of 67 and 65 respectively.

Donald collected the first prize of €266,700 and two-year exemption and gave European captain Bernhard Langer a timely reminder of his abilities ahead of the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills next month.

The 26-year-old Englishman is still well outside the automatic qualifying places but is a strong contender for one of the two wild cards available to Langer – with Montgomerie expected to receive the other.

Starting the final round three shots ahead of Hanson, the former Walker Cup star’s lead was never less than two shots, although he struggled to reproduce the form of the first three days.

A 50-foot birdie putt on the sixth steadied any nerves and after a bogey on the eighth he crucially saved par from 15ft on the 11th while Hanson bogeyed.

Birdies on the 13th and 14th then gave him a more comfortable lead and he finished in style with another birdie on the 18th.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Peter Lawrie today set a new course record in the final round of the Scandinavian Masters.

Lawrie fired an eagle and six birdies in an eight-under-par 64 to jump from a share of 53rd overnight to joint seventh on six under par.

His final position was eighth place, in a seven-way tie.

Irish leaderboard:

T8 LAWRIE, Peter IRL 18 -6

T17 McGINLEY, Paul IRL 15 -4

T30 McGRANE, Damien IRL 18 -2

T36 McDOWELL, Graeme NIR 18 -1