Thomas Bjorn bags the lucrative Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on European Tour
Dane Thomas Bjorn, one of Denmark’s guiding holy spirit in golf, clinched his much awaited title on the European Tour on Sunday, August 28 when he took the better of the rest of the field at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Bjorn triumphed in a stiff five-way Playoff challenge at the end and kept his composure to win another title after Commercialbank Qatar Masters in February earlier this year.
“I didn't really see that coming after my two weeks in America. But I played nicely this week. I played fantastic on Thursday and I played great today,” said the jubilant Bjorn, who posted a three-under, 69 on the final day to push for the summit.
He settled for an aggregate of 11-under alongside Mark Foster, George Coetzee, Bernd Wiesberger and Pablo Larrazábal in a nerve wrecking five-way Playoff.
“I didn't putt the best and probably should have done better than I did today. In the end, it was all down to Mark's mistake really on the last, but that happens in golf,” he added.
Currently ranked 70 on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), Bjorn played well in the Open Championship this year to finish for an outright fourth on the tough Royal St. George’s. He has now soared to number eight on Race to Dubai.
Foster lost the chance to bag the title for the final 18-hole stretch when he dropped consecutive shots at the closing holes. He had opened his final round with birdies and an eagle and it appeared he will be running away with the title with a lucrative
winner’s prize share of € 266,629.
As the drama lingered on to the nail-biting Playoffs, Wiesberger and Larrazábal were shown the door in the opening two holes as both fell for terrible bogeys while Foster had to call it a day at the third Playoff. Coetzee struggled to level-par the fifth
hole, while Bjorn birdied the same to win the title.
“But the way I played the last three playoff holes, I can't be more proud of what I did,” conceded the 40-year-old Dane.
Stephen Gallacher and Joel Sjoholm finished for joint second, trailing the leaders by one shot while Victor Dubuisson, Kenneth Ferrie and Ignacio Garrido finished for a joint eighth.
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