South African Richard Sterne played one of the shots of his life to claim his first DP World Tour title in 13 years at the Soudal Open in Belgium.
Trailing countryman Zander Lombard for most of the day, Sterne timed his attack to perfection, making a stunning eagle at the 17th hole to move to 18 under par and go atop of a stacked leaderboard at Rinkven International Golf Club.
The challenge was too much to ask for the chasing pack, with the 44-year-old’s round of 66 enough to register his first win since the 2013 Joburg Open.
The now seven-time DP World Tour winner has overcome his fair share of injuries in the years since, undergoing three wrist operations, a disc replacement and hip surgery, with his story one of resilience and perseverance.
Marcus Kinhult led a large group to finish in a share of second at 16 under, the Swede holing a long putt at the last for his seventh birdie in a bogey-free 64. Marcus Armitage signed for a 66 to join him, as did Victor Perez, while Kota Kaneko, Jorge Campillo and Jacob Skov Olesen rounded out those two shots behind the winner.
Third round leader Lombard closed with a 74 to share eight spot with MJ Daffue a further shot back, alongside Ben Schmidt, Nathan Kimsey and Gregorio De Leo at 15 under par.
Sterne said: “It’s been a tough ride. A lot of injuries, a lot of hard things that I’ve gone through but to get back in the winner’s circle today is quite unexpected. I thought I was one behind playing the last, but then got on to the 18th green and had a quick look at the board and was quite surprised.
“They were hard times, I didn’t think I was going to get through a lot of them. Three wrist ops, a disc replacement, hip surgery, I’ve been through it all so I’m pretty happy. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and trying to figure things out. One of the main goals was for my children to see me win. My eldest is 13 soon, so it’s been pretty much that long, so it’s nice to let them see me win.”
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