KLM Open: Pablo Larrazabal won the KLM Open by two strokes over fellow Spaniard Adrian Otaegui and secured his second DP World Tour victory in the previous four weeks. He did this by birdying three of his final four holes.
The Spaniard, who won the Korea Championship in April, had a one-shot lead over Otaegui and Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark going into the final round. However, he made a mistake right away when he double-bogeyed his second hole after hitting the water.
Larrazabal bounced back to improve at holes six and seven, and after losing a stroke at hole nine, he quickly rebounded on the following hole to finish the round in 32 for a three-under 69 and finish the tournament at 13 under par.
The Barcelona-born golfer won his sixth tournament on the DP World Tour and first since turning 40 earlier this month after sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.
It was a struggle with myself, according to Larrazabal. I played poorly. I controlled myself on the course, made some excellent putts on the front nine, and tried to maintain my position as best I could.
“You need birdies on the last holes if you want to win golf competitions. No matter how quickly you start the race, you must finish it quicker in order to win.
“I’m extremely proud of my team and of myself. We had a lot of difficulty with Covid, but now we are here with four victories in the last 15 months. It is too important to me.”
The KLM Open champion is hoping to achieve similar success in his fifth decade, saying: “Hopefully I do 20% of what Miguel did in his forties.” Larrazabal’s fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez won 13 DP World Tour championships after turning 40.
After finishing his round with a birdie, Otaegui claimed sole possession of second place on 11 under, while Hojgaard and Deon Germishuys of South Africa tied for third place on 10 under, one stroke behind them.
Adrian Meronk of Poland, who entered the competition at world No. 47, tied for fifth place on nine under with Daniel Hillier of New Zealand and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand.
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