Niklas Norgaard fought off competition from Thriston Lawrence to secure his first career DP World Tour victory at the British Masters at The Belfry.
The 32-year-old from Denmark came into the final round with a healthy four-shot advantage but that advantage was soon reduced to just one shot in what turned out to be a topsy-turvy final day which saw Norgaard regain his four-shot advantage before a double bogey at the 15th saw him under pressure once more. But the Dane regained his composure during the closing stretch to card a level-par 72 and end on 16 under, two clear of Lawrence and enough for him to get hands on his first title on the DP World Tour.
“You have no idea how much it means,” Norgaard said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I was 10 years old.
“I’ve had kind of a long career, just moving slowly ahead and every year getting a little bit better. I’ve never won on the Challenge Tour, nothing like that, so to win here for a first win I feel very good.
“I was trying not to think about it too much but this morning I almost threw up at breakfast, I was just so nervous.”
This victory means that Norgaard is the 13th player to win their maiden DP World Tour title this season and also becomes the third Dane to win the British Masters, following Thomas Bjorn in 2005 and Thorbjorn Olesen in 2022.
Norgaard’s compatriots Rasmus Hojgaard charged up the leaderboard with an impressive final-round 65 to end the tournament in third on 12 under.
What is the next event?
The next event on the DP World Tour schedule is Omega European Masters taking place between 5-8 September at Crans-sur-Sierre GC in Switzerland.