Thorbjorn Olesen won the Betfred British Masters in barely believable fashion with a stunning eagle-birdie finish for the second day running at The Belfry.
Olesen took a three-shot lead into the final round but struggled with a hook all day and was four over par after 16 holes.
With Sebastian Soderberg in the clubhouse on nine under, Olesen needed to play the last two holes in two under just to force a play-off, but went one better by holing from 28 feet for an eagle on the par-five 17th and 35 feet across the green on the last.
Olesen was understandably almost at a loss for words after securing his first win since 2018, just six months after he was cleared of sexually assaulting a woman on a British Airways flight in July 2019.
The 32-year-old claimed he turned into an “automaton” and was not in control of his body after drinking and taking prescription-only sleeping pills before a flight from Nashville to London, following a tournament in Memphis.
Olesen was ranked 62nd in the world at the time of the incident but began the week 376th and had admitted on Saturday evening he would feel the nerves of attempting to claim his sixth DP World Tour title.
“It’s a massive tournament won by so many great names so it’s a privilege to have my name on the trophy,” Olesen said.
“It was obviously a pretty tough day and hit a lot of shots to the left. I was really struggling. I somehow just kept going, and yeah, what a finish. Incredible.
“Standing on 17, I’m thinking I can make birdie, birdie and maybe get into a play-off. But obviously when I got the chance on 17, I prefer to take that. 18 is a tough hole, so par is a good score obviously. I just gave it everything.”
Richie Ramsay had earlier looked set for victory when he birdied the 17th to reach 10 under, only for the 38-year-old Scot to find the water in front of the green with his approach to the 18th and run up a costly double bogey.
Final scores
British and Irish unless stated, par 72
278 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 66 70 69 73
279 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 70 68 73 68
280 Richie Ramsay 67 69 73 71, Connor Syme 74 68 68 70, Justin Walters (Rsa) 68 70 71 71
281 Chase Hanna (USA) 70 73 66 72, Hurly Long (Ger) 67 68 73 73
282 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 66 73 72 71, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 70 69 73 70, Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 69 74 69 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 70 70 69 73, Romain Langasque (Fra) 76 67 68 71, Julien Brun (Fra) 71 69 71 71, J. C. Ritchie (Rsa) 73 70 69 70, Richard Mansell 71 70 73 68,
283 Danny Willett 73 65 74 71, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 68 69 72 74, Justin Harding (Rsa) 70 73 69 71, Callum Shinkwin 73 69 70 71, Yannik Paul (Ger) 71 71 70 71
284 Victor Perez (Fra) 71 72 69 72, Marcus Armitage 71 67 70 76, Sam Horsfield 71 69 72 72, Jordan Smith 69 72 74 69, Santiago Tarrio ((Esp) 72 71 70 71, Frederic Lacroix (Fra) 72 71 73 68
285 Ashun Wu (Chn) 67 72 73 73, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 70 66 74 75, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 71 72 68 74, James Morrison 71 73 72 69, Adrian Otaegui ((Esp) 71 70 73 71, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 73 68 71 73, Sebastian Garcia ((Esp) 73 71 70 71, Jack Singh-Brar 72 71 69 73, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 75 69 70 71,
286 Thriston Lawrence (Rsa) 72 70 75 69, John Catlin (USA) 71 73 74 68, Robert MacIntyre 74 67 76 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 68 74 72 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 71 73 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 71 70 73 72, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 71 71 74 70,
287 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 68 75 73 71, Niklas Noergaard Moeller (Den) 72 72 71 72
288 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 70 74 73 71, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 71 72 73 72, Robin Roussel (Fra) 71 71 72 74
289 Adria Arnaus ((Esp) 70 72 69 78, Eddie Pepperell 73 69 75 72, Gavin Green (Mal) 71 70 74 74
290 Daan Huizing (Ned) 69 71 74 76, Joel Stalter (Fra) 74 69 71 76, David Coupland 72 72 72 74
291 Thomas Detry (Bel) 74 67 74 76, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 71 71 76, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 71 78 73
292 Matthew Southgate 71 73 75 73, Darius van Driel (Ned) 74 69 75 74
293 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 74 74 75, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 75 73 76, Pep Angles ((Esp) 75 69 76 73
294 Hugo Leon (Chi) 71 73 80 70
295 Paul Waring 70 69 80 76, Ben Schmidt 71 73 75 76, Richard McEvoy 72 72 73 78
296 Zander Lombard (Rsa) 72 72 77 75
297 Rafael Cabrera ((Esp) 74 70 75 78
303 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano ((Esp) 72 72 84 75
