DP World Tour : Soudal Open Results
Nacho Elvira carded a gutsy level-par 71 to hold on and claim his second DP World Tour title at the Soudal Open after a dramatic afternoon at Rinkven International Golf Club.
The Spaniard entered the final day with a four-shot advantage and quickly extended that to five but at the finale found himself on the 18th green at 18 under watching playing partner Niklas Nørgaard stand over a birdie putt to force a play-off.
The Dane, however, missed his 12-footer, leaving Elvira to celebrate a one-shot victory, with Frenchman Romain Langasque and home favourite Thomas Pieters in a share of second.
English duo Joe Dean and Matthew Jordan were then at 16 under, with Dean the only player to briefly share the lead with Elvira during a tense fourth round.
Elvira's victory serves as a reward for some remarkable consistency in a 2024 season where he has missed just one cut by a single shot and finished second at the Magical Kenya Open.
The 37-year-old's victory at the 2021 Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale came after a play-off despite him entering the final round in Wales with a six-shot advantage and he must have been fearing that he would need extra holes again as he scrambled over the closing holes.
A broken two iron in the warm-up and 23-minute rain delay in the middle of the round did not help matters but Elvira showed remarkable determination to get over the line and was holding back the tears in his winner's interview.
"I'm very happy," he said. "I was a little bit emotional because I know all the hard work that I put in that sometimes doesn't show. I couldn't ask for anything better.
"I wasn't feeling comfortable off the tee today, my driving was a little bit off and you really need to hit it straight here.
"It was all hard because I knew I wasn't hitting it good but I tried to keep it in play and I tried to hold on to it."
Elvira has been joined by brother Manuel on the DP World Tour this season after his graduation from the European Challenge Tour and the elder Elvira is hoping his sibling can take inspiration from his victory.
"It is special," he said. "You work hard and I tried to teach him that this game doesn't pay off quickly, you need to be patient. So hopefully he'll learn something from this and keep pushing."
edit*** After opening with 66 66 Canada's Aaron Cockerill finished with a top 25 week in Belgium. 70 71 -11 T22 just 7 shots off the winning total, worth $32,063 cdn dollars. He remains ranked 20th in the Race to Dubai standings.
This week its down to Hamburg to the Green Eagle GC for the European Open.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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