DP World Tour :
Home favourite Rasmus Højgaard won Made in Himmerland 2023 in a six-hole play-off to become the tournament's first Danish winner in its last ever staging.
Højgaard held off Nacho Elvira after coming from seven shots behind to finish level with the Spaniard on 13 under par.
“I’m speechless at the moment," Højgaard said afterwards. "To be fair, I didn’t think I’d end up in a play-off – it’s quite amazing. To win a home event, it’s amazing.
“It isn’t that long ago that I was one of those kids trying to get balls and signed gloves, so it’s cool to see them out here supporting us.
“This is better than I could ever dream of. We’ve wanted a Danish winner for so long now, so to be the first one to do it is amazing.”
It was Højgaard's fourth DP World Tour win and extended his perfect record in play-offs, having won the 2019 AFRASIA BANK Mauritius Open and the following year’s ISPS HANDA UK Championship in the same manner.
PLAYOFF
Højgaard got up and down from the bunker to par the first play-off hole and take it to a second, where Elvira did likewise.
Højgaard’s pin-high approach third time round gave him the advantage but his putt shaved the hole, and they shared the next two holes as well.
At the sixth extra hole, though, Elvira flew his second shot out of bounds into the practice grounds leaving Højgaard to two-putt for a victory which lifts him from 67th to 12th on the Race to Dubai Presented by Rolex.
Elvira had some consolation as he took one of the took the three Open Championship places on offer to the highest finishers not already exempt. The others went to Samooja and Marc Warren, who shared fourth place with MacIntyre and Alexander Björk on 11 under.
Matthew Southgate shot 61, the best round of the week, to finish nine under. The Englishman was threatening a 59 after a run of five straight birdies to the 17th but, needing another at the last, he instead sent his tee-shot into the water and made a bogey five
european tour.com
Bryan Angus
No comments:
Post a Comment