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 14^th, 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

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Horsfield becomes the first home winner of the Hero Open – formerly the English Open – since Lee Westwood in 1998, and the fifth English winner in total. The win moves him to the top of the UK Swing Rankings, from which the top ten players at the conclusion of the ISPS Handa Wales Open will earn exemptions to the U.S. Open in September.

The 23-year-old said of his first European Tour victory:

“It’s crazy, I can’t put it in to words. I made a bad bogey on 15, then on 17 we wanted to leave a good five wood number and I did. 233, wind out to the left, hit a great shot there.

“It’s special. With everything that’s going on in the world right now, I’m thankful that the European Tour has been able to put on tournaments for us to play. I’ve been in Orlando for the last three months and felt like my game was right there, I played decently last week, had a bad finish but kept the positives from that. I played solid all week and gave myself a lot of opportunities and made one enough.”

Having endured a difficult back nine on Saturday when relinquishing the six-shot lead he had built on the front nine, Horsfield showed determination on an exciting final day at Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel and Country Club, maintaining his lead over the chasing pack for the vast part of the round.

He was knocked off the top of the leaderboard briefly when Detry birdied the 17^th hole to move to the front on 18 under par. The Belgian missed a crucial par putt at the last, however, from four feet to drop back to 17 under alongside Horsfield.

The American-based Horsfield capitalised on the opportunity at the penultimate hole, playing the par five to perfection and picking up a shot to earn a one-one stroke advantage stepping onto the tee of the par three final hole

A deft lag putt left him with an easy par putt to lift the trophy, signing for a four under par 68 and an 18 under total. Horsfield moved to 18th in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, up from 43rd.

Cormac Sharvin, the only Irish golfer to make the weekend cut, finished on five under par, 13 shots behind the leader. The Co. Down man carded a final round of 73 to match his third round score at the Forest of Arden. On the opening two days, the Irishman had shot 70 and 67 respectively to make the final two days of the competition.

Final scores:

270 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 68 63 71 68,
271 T DETRY (BEL) 67 67 71 66,
274 O FARR (WAL) 65 71 67 71, C PAISLEY (ENG) 70 68 66 70, A BJRK (SWE) 68 67 70 69,
275 M KORHONEN (FIN) 67 69 67 72, R HOJGAARD (DEN) 66 71 66 72, M PAVON (FRA) 69 67 69 70, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 69 67 68,
277 S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 62 69 73 73, A ROZNER (FRA) 68 67 70 72, L CANTER (ENG) 67 72 68 70, A RAI (ENG) 71 68 70 68, S JAMIESON (SCO) 71 71 70 65,
278 R ROCK (ENG) 71 69 66 72, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 72 68 67 71, J DONALDSON (WAL) 72 68 68 70, S CROCKER (USA) 67 75 66 70, J GUERRIER (FRA) 68 71 71 68, R FOX (NZL) 70 72 68 68, D COUPLAND (ENG) 68 72 71 67,
279 R BLAND (ENG) 70 68 67 74, J SJOHOLM (SWE) 70 68 68 73, R FISHER (ENG) 70 71 67 71, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 74 69 69, R RAMSAY (SCO) 69 68 74 68, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 70 72 72 65,
280 J HANSEN (DEN) 68 71 66 75, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 69 72 71, A CHESTERS (ENG) 66 72 71 71, J STALTER (FRA) 67 71 71 71, R PARATORE (ITA) 70 70 69 71, J VEERMAN (USA) 75 66 72 67,
281 B HEBERT (FRA) 69 70 66 76, M JIMINEZ (ESP) 64 72 73 72, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 68 69 72 72, G FORREST (SCO) 69 68 72 72, W BESSELING (NED) 67 70 73 71, B STOW (ENG) 70 71 71 69, D HORSEY (ENG) 71 71 72 67,
282 N LEMKE (SWE) 70 72 64 76, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 70 68 74, R KARLBERG (SWE) 68 71 71 72, B POKE (DEN) 72 70 69 71, C SORDET (FRA) 69 72 72 69, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 71 74 67,
283 J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69 71 74, A LEVY (FRA) 67 69 74 73, C SHARVIN (NIR) 70 67 73 73, S KIM (USA) 67 71 72 73,
284 P LARRAZABAL (ESP) 64 75 70 75, L DE JAGER (RSA) 74 66 69 75, J CATLIN (USA) 71 70 72 71, B EVANS (ENG) 72 70 71 71, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 69 71 74 70, D WHITNELL (ENG) 69 72 76 67,
285 R SANTOS (POR) 70 69 71 75, R ENOCH (WAL) 68 72 70 75, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 73 67 72 73, R MCEVOY (ENG) 69 72 72 72, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 69 72 72 72, L SLATTERY (ENG) 70 71 72 72,
286 C PIGEM (ESP) 69 69 76 72, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 70 71 75 70,
287 S BROWN (ENG) 71 71 71 74, S TILEY (ENG) 72 67 75 73,
288 M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 72 70 73 73,
289 C SYME (SCO) 67 75 74 73,
290 T BJ?RN (DEN) 71 71 70 78,
292 M CAMPBELL (NZL) 71 71 73 77,
293 G FDEZ-CASTANO (ESP) 73 68 68 84,

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