Denmark's Niklas Nørgaard led by four shots in the final round at The Belfry Golf Club on Sunday, with 18 holes left to fulfill his childhood dream.
He shot an 8-under 64 on Saturday to take the top spot on the leaderboard, and after 54 holes he was at 16-under. He had a nervous night, but he held on the next day. Norgaard shot an even-par 72 to beat South African Sriston Lawrence, who had a phenomenal week at Royal Troon earlier this year, by two shots.
Norgaard's victory at the Betfred British Masters was his first on the DP World Tour. The 32-year-old Dane's last professional victory came in August 2020, when he won the Nordic Golf League's Esbjerg Open.
“This is what I've dreamed of since I started playing golf at age 10. The view is special. It means everything to me,” Norgard said after his win.
“I try not to think too much about it, but this morning, I almost threw up while eating breakfast because I was so nervous. Being on the court helps me.”
Norgard led by four shots with four holes to play after birdies at the 12th and 14th holes, both par 3s. But then he had a bad chip shot at the par 5 15th, which took him four tries to get out of the rough around the green.
“I had a good 15th hole and thought, ‘Did I give up there?’ I’m really happy with how it ended here,” Norgard said.
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“I wasn't too nervous. It's just that my chipping skills were bad at times.”
Two holes later, Lawrence also made a birdie putt, and Norgard was back to 16 under, when Norgard also made a birdie putt. With one hole left, he was two shots ahead.
“I try not to think about it too much, but the 18th hole probably brings out the best in you,” Norgard added.
“I was happy to find the fairway and then [to have the Danish] It was a special feeling for the players when they got to the 18th green.”
The other big news at The Belfry this week revolved around LIV Golf star Tyrrell Hatton, who had the 36-hole lead. Hatton still has a DP World Tour card and played this week to get a head start in Ryder Cup qualifying. Only DP World Tour members can join the European Ryder Cup team, and Hatton wanted to join the team so badly that he decided to play this week. He also has to play four DP World Tour events per year (not including majors) to retain his membership.
But after shooting 10 under for 36 holes, Hatton's weekend was a wash. On Saturday, he shot a 4-over 76, including a triple bogey on 13 holes and four bogeys over par. Then, on Sunday, he shot just a 2-over 74. In the final round on Sunday, he hit two balls into the water on the par-4 sixth hole, leading to a quadruple-bogey 8 for Hatton.
It remains to be seen when Hatton will compete on the DP World Tour again, but he will need to compete in two more tournaments to keep his membership card through 2025.
Jack Milko is SB Nation's Playing Through golf columnist. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @JackMilco Same here.