Yesterday, the Danish golfer Thørbjørn Olesen brought redemption, who won his first tournament since he was acquitted of charges of sexual assault in connection with an incident in 2019.
And he did it in an extraordinary way by carving an eagle and then a birdie to make three shots in the final two holes to win the British Masters – the biggest win of his 15-year career.
The 32-year-old hit a 30-foot putt on the 17th and then topped it with a 36-footer on the final hole to overtake clubhouse manager Sebastian Soderberg with a single stroke (see highlights in the video below).
When he started last day with three strokes free, he struggled, but on his way into the 17th, he knew what to do: absolutely the same thing he managed on Saturday.
Big boost for his world ranking
After his impressive sixth place at the 2013 US Masters at the age of just 23, Olesen looked like a good bet to become the first Scandinavian to win a major tournament, but instead the honor went to Henrik Stenson three years later.
The victories meanwhile dried up next to Olesen, who after a race on a European tour title every year from 2014 to 2016 continued to win only one more tournament: the Italian Open in 2018.
The victory has thrown Olesen 203 places up in the world rankings to # 173, and he is now the fifth best placed Dane after twins Nicolai Højgaard (83) and Rasmus Højgaard (120), Marcus Helligkilde (132) and Joachim B Hansen (139).
However, he has a long way to go to secure a place on the Ryder Cup team in 2023, as twins to Rasmus and Nicolai is currently ranked 19th and 21st.
Could the Belfry victory be a good omen?
This year’s British Masters was held at The Belfry, which for so long was the historic home of Ryder Cup golf. It hosted the famous 1985 edition when the European team finally ended a 28-year drought to claim the trophy again.
The British Masters was without a doubt the biggest British tournament not so long ago: its winning list from the 1980s is a veritable ‘who’s who’ of golf from the era that boasts people like Lee Trevino, Save Ballesteros, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo.
But it was canceled in 2009 due to lack of interest among sponsors. Its winners since its return in 2016 have mostly been a collection of ‘who the hell are they’ players.
Olesen will hope that in the coming years, 2022 will be considered the year when everything changed.
Source: The Nordic Page