Sam Horsfield overcame Thomas Detry in a thrilling final day battle to win his first European Tour title at the 2020 Hero Open https://www.europeantour.com/european-tour/hero-open-2020/leaderboard
The Englishman entered round four at Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club with a one shot lead and sat atop the leaderboard almost all day until Detry passed him with a birdie on the 17th.
That was the first time Horsfield - who held a six shot lead at the turn on Saturday - had not been in pole position all weekend but a Detry bogey on the last put him back in a share of top spot.
A birdie on the par five 17th then put the 23-year-old back in the solo lead and he held his nerve up the last to sign for a 68, an 18 under par total and a maiden victory in his 65th European Tour appearance.
Belgian Detry signed for a 66 to finish a single shot behind, three ahead of Swede Alexander Björk, Welshman Oliver Farr and England's Chris Paisley.
Horsfield appeared on the golfing radar at the age of just 13 when he recorded a 59 at his home course in Florida, a score he matched when playing with friends in Orlando during the coronavirus hiatus
Much has been made of Horsfield being tipped as a star of the future by Ryder Cup star and 12 time European Tour winner Ian Poulter when he was just a junior, and the champion revealed he was given advice by Poulter's caddie Terry Mundy on Saturday night.
"I’ll see Terry (Mundy) tonight and I’m sure we’ll have a few beers. Last night I called Terry, we talked about him and Ian being in situations where they’ve had one shot leads or having been leading at a golf tournament. He said ‘go out there and play good golf, if you get beat, you get beat’. I had that mindset today. I thought I’m going to do my own thing, play good golf and if someone wants to catch me, then good for them."
Europeantour.com
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