Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen held his nerve to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and claim his third European Tour title.
The 25 year old from Copenhagen came second at this event in 2012, but went one better on Sunday, posting a one under par 71 over the Old Course at St Andrews to finish the week on 18 under par, two shots clear of the American duo of Brooks Koepka and Chris Stroud.
Bristol’s Chris Wood closed with a 65 to finish a shot further back alongside Benjamin Hebert, Bernd Wiesberger, Joakim Lagergren and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
Olesen began his final round with a three-shot lead over the chasing pack, but followed a birdie from eight feet on the first with a double bogey on the second and a bogey at the next to surrender the outright lead. He bounced back in style, however, picking up shots at the fourth and fifth holes to return to the top of the leaderboard.
After safely parring the next nine holes, Olesen extended his advantage to two strokes with a brilliant birdie from 50 feet at the 15th. He then parred the notorious 17th to set up a victory stroll down the 18th, before collecting a cheque for €708,171, which moved him up 99 places up the Race to Dubai (from 124th to 25th), into the top 75 in the world ranking and to the head of the European Ryder Cup points list.
“It’s been a very tough year and standing here with this trophy is unbelievable,” said Olesen. “To win over these three golf courses and finishing off especially on St. Andrews is a great feeling.
“Winning after the year I have makes this more personal, and like I said before, very emotional. I would like to give a special thanks to my coach’s family and friends, and anyone who has been there. I kept believing.”
The team event, which matches a pro with a celebrity, was won by the German duo of Florian Fritsch and football legend Michael Ballack with an overall score of 40-under-par, following a last round 62 on the Old Course at St Andrews. The pair needed to birdie both the last two holes to get past Chris Wood and his amateur partner Mark Madden, with 18 handicapper Ballack bagging a par for nett birdie at the last to seal the title.
Fritsch, a 29-year-old from Munich who turned professional in 2009, won an additional $50,000, said: “It’s amazing. I get to play golf with someone I have watched on television for pretty much all my life, and I get to play with him on my own turf. He’s someone I have always looked up to as a footballer and as a great sportsman.”
Ballack added: “As an amateur, you just enjoy the moment here. It’s not about winning, it’s just about being part of a great tournament. It was really special. Footballers are used to playing in front of 50,000-60,000 people, but this is different. My hands were shaky out there, but Florian saved me a few times when I had to pick up my ball and I did get more confident as we went on. But this is a different kind of pressure to what I am used to in football.”
Final Scores
270 T Olesen (Den) 68 66 65 71,
272 C Stroud (USA) 68 66 70 68, B Koepka (USA) 72 69 64 67,
273 C Wood (Eng) 71 72 65 65, B Wiesberger (Aut) 70 68 69 66, J Lagergren (Swe) 71 71 62 69, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 63 66 69, B Hebert (Fra) 69 67 67 70,
274 D Horsey (Eng) 72 70 64 68, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 72 66 68, S Cink (USA) 73 65 69 67, S Kjeldsen (Den) 65 72 69 68,
275 J Morrison (Eng) 67 70 70 68, T Fleetwood (Eng) 70 71 67 67, F Aguilar (Chi) 67 73 67 68, P Hanson (Swe) 70 72 66 67, B Dredge (Wal) 73 63 68 71, J Donaldson (Wal) 69 65 71 70,