Englishman Sam Horsfield made European Tour history when he won his second title at the Celtic Classic, becoming the first golfer on Tour to win an event, which he achieved at the Hero Open a fortnight ago, miss a cut, and then win again in the space of three weeks.
The 23-year-old started the final one shot behind Scotland’s Connor Syme, but shared the lead after the first hole as the young leader dropped a shot. The English golfer made consecutive birdies on the third and fourth holes and then birdied the seventh before a two-hour delay caused by the threat of lightning at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales which played like a pool table with the greens playing just perfect.
After the restart, he parred the next six holes before his fourth birdie of the day on 14th, and he parred his way home to sign for a bogey-free 67 and an 18 under par total.
Commenting on his second win in three weeks, Horsfield admitted:
“It was pretty crazy. My goal this weekend was to have no bogeys and I was able to do that. I made a huge putt on 17 to keep that alive and I just played solid all week, really. To have a nice cushion coming into the last was nice.”
Similarly to the Hero Open at Forest of Arden, Belgium’s Thomas Detry finished as runner-up to Horsfield after also posting a four under par, bogey-free round.
The Belgian was satisfied with his performance after a long layoff from the sport, stating:
“We did an okay job this week. It’s nice to start after five months off with a top ten. We had a bit of a slip up yesterday but still, happy overall. My caddie said if I go two under through the last four then he’ll buy me dinner tonight, so I get free dinner.”
Sharing third place were 2016 Ryder Cup player Thomas Pieters, making his first start since the resumption of the 2020 Race to Dubai, Andrew Johnston of England and Syme, who stated, “My goal is to get in that top ten for the U.S. Open.”
Horsfield moves to the top of the UK Swing Order of Merit and has secured a place at the U.S. Open. He will be joined by the other top ten players on the UK Swing Rankings at Winged Foot at the conclusion of next week’s ISPS Handa Wales Open.
The Englishman is also guaranteed a share of £250,000 as part of the European Tour’s Good for Golf initiative. The top ten on the rankings after the ISPS Handa UK Championship at The Belfry will share the money to donate to charities of their choice.
Cormac Sharvin beat his fellow Ulsterman to be leading Irish golfer in the Celtic Classic. The Ardglass golfer carded a final round of 73, which Jonathan Caldwell bettered by one stroke, but Sharvin completed the tournament on a four-round total of 276 to Caldwell’s 278.
Select Final Scores
266 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64 68 67,
268 T DETRY (BEL) 67 66 68 67,
269 C SYME (SCO) 68 67 63 71, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66 68 68, T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68 70 67,
270 A MERONK (POL) 66 71 64 69, D HORSEY (ENG) 68 71 65 66, S VILIMIKI (FIN) 71 68 65 66, J CATLIN (USA) 68 68 69 65,
271 S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69 65 71,
272 C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65 69 70, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69 67 69, G GREEN (MAS) 70 69 70 63,
273 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69 69 70, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69 65 70, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67 69 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 69 70 66 68, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70 69 67, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 69 67 67, S HEISELE (GER) 69 70 69 65, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 70 71 67 65,
274 S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69 66 70, J SENIOR (ENG) 69 70 66 69, S CROCKER (USA) 68 66 73 67, J SMITH (ENG) 68 68 71 67, W NIENABER (RSA) 70 67 71 66,
275 M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70 67 71, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70 68 70, A BJORK (SWE) 71 70 66 68, R FISHER (ENG) 72 68 68 67,
276 C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67 65 73, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66 69 72, A RAI (ENG) 67 70 70 69, S BROWN (ENG) 67 72 68 69, D WHITNELL (ENG) 72 67 69 68, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 68 71 70 67, J DONALDSON (WAL) 70 70 70 66, R KARLBERG (SWE) 73 68 69 66,
277 M WARREN (SCO) 66 72 65 74, N ELVIRA (ESP) 66 69 72 70, C HILL (SCO) 70 68 70 69, J WALTERS (RSA) 70 69 69 69, S HEND (AUS) 75 65 68 69, T TREE (ENG) 65 75 69 68, A CHESTERS (ENG) 72 68 69 68, O FARR (WAL) 73 67 69 68
278 S KIM (USA) 66 70 68 74, J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66 72 72, A ARNAUS (ESP) 73 68 65 72, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 71 66 71, M JORDAN (ENG) 68 66 74 70, E MOLINARI (ITA) 66 72 70 70, O LENGDEN (SWE) 69 69 70 70, J HARDING (RSA) 69 71 68 70, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 68 71 70 69, D BURMESTER (RSA) 71 68 71 68,
280 J SJOHOLM (SWE) 68 70 69 73, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 66 70 72 72, F LAPORTA (ITA) 69 69 70 72, R FOX (NZL) 69 71 68 72, D PERRIER (FRA) 70 69 71 70,
281 S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 70 68 73,
282 L DE JAGER (RSA) 71 68 69 74, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73 70 72, S SHARMA (IND) 71 70 70 71,
283 T OLESEN (DEN) 71 70 69 73, J SURI (USA) 72 69 72 70, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 71 70 76 66,
284 G FORREST (SCO) 72 68 72 72,
285 R MCGOWAN (ENG) 70 70 71 74, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 70 71 70 74,
287 M LEE (AUS) 69 71 71 76,
288 B STOW (ENG) 68 72 73 75,
289 C PIGEM (ESP) 70 71 74 74
