England’s Daniel Brown collected a second DP World Tour triumph of his career after repelling playing partner Jordan Smith at the BMW International Open in Germany.
The 30-year-old, who came into the event ranked 170th in the world, came into the final round at Golfclub München Eichenried with a one-shot advantage and looked to tighten his grip at the top of the leaderboard thanks to birdies in four of his first six holes, extending his advantage. However, fellow compatriot Smith produced a charge of his own with five birdies in eight holes which saw the pair head-to-head as they arrived at the turn.
Brown found himself with three shots clear following the 12th after Smith sunk consecutive bogeys and managed to hold on to the lead following the remaining holes, finishing with a birdie at the last to close with a final-round 66 and secure a two-shot victory, a win which brought about floods of tears after he revealed it came days after losing a close friend.
Asked what this triumph meant to him, Brown said: “A lot. The first one didn’t really sink in, but that one straight away hit me.
“I lost a friend at home last weekend. I don’t know what to say really, but that was for him.
“The last two days I’ve been thinking about him to try and take my mind off it, obviously, try not to get too emotional in the process.
“I’m not too sure what happened today like all day, it was an out-of-body experience. Obviously nerves, and then thinking about the importance of winning a golf tournament.
“It sort of played it down with what happened, I suppose he was there with me and it made it a lot easier.
“This event being such a great event, and then the next two weeks, it’s a nice three-week stretch and it’s been made a lot nicer.”
Smith closed out with a final-round 67 to end runner-up on 20 under, the second consecutive he has done so at the tournament while New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori completed the top three two shots further back on 18 under.
What is the next event?
The next event on the DP World Tour schedule is the Genesis Scottish Open taking place between 10-13 July at The Renaissance Club in Scotland.