DP World Tour : Soudal Open Leaderboard
With leader Zandar Lombard's bogey, double bogey, bogey late collapse, veteran South African Richard Sterne closed with birdie,eagle par to top the field 64 68 68 66 -18 for a 2 shot win over six players T2 at -16.
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Richard Sterne hit one of the shots of his life to snatch his first DP World Tour win in 13 years at the 2026 Soudal Open.
After fellow South African Zander Lombard had led comfortably for most of the day, Sterne timed his move to perfection with a stunning eagle - and almost an albatross - at the 17th.
That took him to -18 and challenged the rest of the leading pack to respond over the closing holes - and it proved too much to ask as Sterne won his first title since the 2013 Joburg Open, following a catalogue of injuries since.
He said of that spectacular approach: "I thought I was still behind, I thought Zander was still on 19 (under) - I wasn't really looking at leaderboards, to be honest.
"It was a long way for me, I had a five wood in the bag, I don't have a three wood, it was 276 (yards) and I needed to hit a little draw on there to get the distance. It just came out as good as I could, it ended up great - three, four feet away - and yeah, it was one of the best shots I've hit.
"It's been a tough ride. A lot of injuries, a lot of hard things that I've gone through but to get back in the winner's circle is... quite unexpected today, to be honest. I thought I was one behind playing the last but then got on to the 18th green and had a quick look at the board and was quite surprised."
Lombard dropped a shot at the 13th, cutting his lead to two as Marcus Kinhult and Marcus Armitage set the clubhouse target at -16.
It was all change soon afterwards, though, as Sterne's booming second shot into the 17th was perfectly on line for an albatross - and while it came up four feet short of that rare achievement, the resulting birdie took him two clear as Lombard made a double-bogey at the 14th.
Sterne went close to a birdie at the last as well, tapping in for par to lower the target to a mark that ultimately proved unbeatable.
The 44-year-old has a titanium disc in his back, among a host of other surgeries which have wiped out several years of his career, and he said: "They were hard times, I didn't think I was going to get through a lot of them.
"Three wrist ops, a disc replacement, hip surgery, I've been through it all so I'm pretty happy. It's been very tough, the last couple of years, but there's been some signs of good things.
"One of the main goals was to win with my children actually seeing it - the oldest is 13 soon, it's been pretty much that long so it's nice to eventually let them see me win. And then I suppose just to prove to myself that I can still compete at this age, after all I've been through."
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
Bryan Angus
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