DP World Tour: Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark overcame a six-shot deficit before defeating Nacho Elvira in a play-off to become the Made in HimmerLand event’s first home champion.
Elvira’s second shot on the sixth extra hole went out of bounds, ultimately handing a fourth DP World Tour Championship to Hojgaard, who had holed from nine feet for par on the previous hole to keep his chances alive.
“I’m speechless,” Hojgaard said after his victory, which brings him within 100 points of an automatic Ryder Cup qualifying spot.
“To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be in a playoff today. It’s very great. Winning our home event is a dream come true.
“This is beyond my wildest dreams. We’ve been hoping for a Danish champion for a long time, so to be the first is incredible.”
It wasn’t that long ago that I was one of those kids trying to get balls and signed gloves,” Hojgaard, who used to attend the event with his family, which included fellow professional and twin brother Nicolai, said. “It’s fantastic to have everyone out here cheering us on.”
Hojgaard started the day six strokes off the lead, but raced through the pack with a final-round 64, including a birdie on the difficult 18th, to set the aim at 13 under par.
Richie Ramsay had the first chance to go through when a birdie on the 16th got him to 14 under, only to find water on his approach to the 18th and finish a stroke outside the play-off.
Elvira, who had bogeyed the 13th and 15th holes to fall two strokes behind Ramsay, birdied the following two holes to catch Ramsay as the Scot played the 18th, but bogeyed the same hole after a long delay on the tee as Ramsay decided where his ball had entered the hazard.
Elvira, who had only made five cuts in 17 prior tournaments this year, had the consolation of winning a berth in The Open Championship with his runner-up result, with former winner Marc Warren and Kalle Samooja tying for fourth.
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