Robert Karlsson clinched a timely first win for over two years when he took the Mercedes Benz Championship on Sunday, the day before flying to Kentucky for the Ryder Cup. A closing one-under-par 71 at Gut Larchenhof for a four-round 13-under-par 275 total earned the Swede his eighth European Tour victory. He finished two strokes better than a charging Francesco Molinari of Italy (70). Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez, Karlsson's Ryder Cup teammate, finished third for a second successive week, four strokes behind Karlsson. Karlsson went into the final day three shots ahead of the field and a birdie at the first quickly made up the stroke he had lost the previous day. After allowing his final day advantage to be cut to only two shots with bogeys on the third and fourth holes, Karlsson regained full control, extending his lead to six strokes by the seventh. Molinari refused to allow Karlsson an easy passage, though, and a bogey on the short 16th reduced the Swede's lead over his Italian playing-partner to only two strokes to cause a few flutters. Molinari had run in four successive birdies from the 12th to keep the pressure on. However Karlsson refused to be denied victory this time after a season of near-misses and pars on 17 and 18 were enough to earn him the $475,000 first prize. Stanford seizes lead In Alabama, Angela Stanford fired a five-under 67 on Saturday to seize a four-shot lead in the $1.4m Bell Micro LPGA Classic. Stanford had seven birdies as she took a 12-under total of 204 through three rounds. A late birdie run saw Stanford build a comfortable cushion between herself and Australian Katherine Hull. Hull was alone in second at eight-under 208 after a 68. She climbed up the leaderboard with seven birdies and an eagle, but suffered a costly double-bogey at the last. Overnight leader Cristie Kerr lost ground with a 76 on Magnolia Grove's The Crossings course. Kerr posted a six-under 66 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead, but managed just three birdies with five bogeys and a double bogey at the par-four third. Brazilian Angela Park (69) and China's Feng Shanshan (70) were tied for third at six
