ENGLAND’S Chris Wood gave home fans plenty to cheer by claiming the BMW PGA Championship in sensational style at Wentworth.

The 28-year-old from Bristol carded a three-under par 69 on the famous West Course to beat Rikard Karlberg by one shot on Sunday.

It was a thrilling finish to the four-day championship after Karlberg had struck a brilliant 65, including a hole-in-one, to mount a serious challenge.

By that stage, Masters champion Danny Willett, who led the tournament at various points, had seen his own challenge falter and slipped to third place.

It was Wood’s third career win on the European Tour and  he beamed: “It is the biggest win of my career. I have always wanted to win the tournament and to win with my family here is amazing.”

Willett had been right in contention after two rounds, but he never recovered from shooting a poor 76 in the third round on Saturday and finished on seven under par, two shots behind Wood.

Wood had started the final day in fifth place, but he produced a sensational round containing one eagle and five birdies to win the European Tour’s flagship event.

“It’s such a massive release to get over the line,” he added.

“I always think if you’re within four shots going into the last day then you have a chance.

“It was such a bunched leaderboard going into the final round it could have been anybody’s, but I came out on top.”

Wood’s march to the title was also aided by the capitulation of Australia’s Scott Hend.

He was leading the tournament overnight on Saturday, but a dreadful final round 78 that included three double bogies and five bogies extinguished his hopes.

That opened the door for Woods to secure the championship and move into the top 25 in the world, with an outside chance of making the Olympic Games and Ryder Cup.

However, he says he would have to change a number of plans in order to compete in Rio this summer.

“To play in the Olympics would be amazing, but I’m getting married the week after and my stag-do clashes at the moment with the Games,” he said. “We’ll have to keep an eye on it.”

More than 100,000 spectators attended four-day tournament at Wentworth on the Berkshire/Surrey border.

Meanwhile, Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke confirmed Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Thomas Bjorn have agreed to be his vice-captains after completing his second round on Friday.

Final scores: -9 Wood (Eng); -8 Karlberg (Swe); -7 Willett (Eng) -6 Wattel (Fra), Aiken (SA), Quesne (Fra).

Selected others: -5 Johnston (Eng), Hatton (Eng); -3 Khan (Eng), Westwood (Eng) Hend (Aus); -2 Sullivan (Eng), Benson (Eng); -1 Donald (Eng).