The Englishman held the lead in the UK Swing’s third event since day two, when he signed for a course-record 62, and never relinquished his place at the summit. A third round 64 handed the 34-year-old a five-stroke advantage heading into the final day on Sunday at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club, and he never let up on the final day.

Sullivan said of his first European Tour title win in five years:

“I’m proud of myself. I wasn’t quite stuck in the doldrums but it just hasn’t quite happened for me since those three wins 2015 and it feels like a weight off my shoulders now, and I think it told out there today.

“I never really felt comfortable out on the golf course all day, I found it quite a battle the whole way around until I started dropping a couple of putts on the back nine and my lead started increasing. I was always on guard today, I knew Adrian was there breathing down my neck.”

An eagle three at the par five second hole quashed the early hopes of a determined chasing pack which included two-time European Tour winner Adrian Otaegui from Spain, whose five under front nine made him a leading contender for an upset.

Otaegui got to within two shots of the leader with six holes to play, but Sullivan picked up four shots on the way home to claim the victory with a six under par 65 and a 27 under total, winning by seven shots from Otaegui on 20 under par.

Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard was one shot further back in third, with South African Wilco Nienaber on 18 under par and England’s Steven Brown on 17 under.

Co. Down golfer Cormac Sharvin couldn’t maintain the heroics of his opening round of 63. The Ardglass man shot a second round 70 on Friday and carded two rounds of 69 over the weekend for a four-round score of 271, leaving him 14 shots behind the winner.

Sullivan moves from 42^nd to 15^th in the Race to Dubai Rankings as a result of the win. It also moved him to the top of the UK Swing Order of Merit after three events, with the top ten after the sixth and final tournament sharing an additional £250,000 from the European Tour’s Golf for Good initiative, to donate to the charity of their choice. The top ten not otherwise exempt after the fifth event will also gain spots in the U.S Open at Winged Foot next month.

Round Four Scores

257 A SULLIVAN (ENG) 66 62 64 65,
264 A OTAEGUI (ESP) 65 66 67 66,
265 R HOJGAARD (DEN) 65 67 69 64,
266 W NIENABER (RSA) 68 65 67 66,
267 S BROWN (ENG) 66 65 66 70,
268 D BURMESTER (RSA) 66 63 69 70, B STONE (RSA) 65 66 67 70, M LEE (AUS) 64 67 70 67,
269 N COLSAERTS (BEL) 65 66 68 70, D COUPLAND (ENG) 69 65 66 69, S VINCENT (ZIM) 64 70 68 67, S CROCKER (USA) 69 67 66 67, S JAMIESON (SCO) 74 63 68 64,
270 J SCRIVENER (AUS) 64 69 66 71, J DONALDSON (WAL) 67 64 69 70, J SMITH (ENG) 68 65 67 70, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 69 63 70, L DE JAGER (RSA) 69 66 67 68,
271 R FOX (NZL) 67 67 66 71, O LENGDEN (SWE) 65 66 70 70, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 66 65 71 69, C SHARVIN (NIR) 63 70 69 69, C SYME (SCO) 65 69 68 69, C PAISLEY (ENG) 68 65 70 68, E FERGUSON (SCO) 67 70 69 65,
272 M SIMONSEN (DEN) 65 68 66 73, B STOW (ENG) 70 67 64 71, A COCKERILL (CAN) 67 68 68 69, N HOJGAARD (DEN) 67 68 69 68, O FISHER (ENG) 67 68 69 68, R ROUSSEL (FRA) 67 69 68 68, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 65 70 70 67, A ROZNER (FRA) 67 69 69 67,
273 L CANTER (ENG) 64 65 70 74, R RAMSAY (SCO) 66 68 69 70, L WESTWOOD (ENG) 66 69 68 70, M WARREN (SCO) 68 68 67 70, A PAVAN (ITA) 68 68 67 70, R PARATORE (ITA) 69 67 69 68, A MERONK (POL) 66 69 71 67, T OLESEN (DEN) 66 70 70 67, J VEERMAN (USA) 67 69 70 67, L GAGLI (ITA) 68 69 69 67,
274 A CANIZARES (ESP) 69 64 69 72, S KIM (USA) 67 65 72 70, R SANTOS (POR) 68 68 69 69, J SENIOR (ENG) 65 72 68 69, A RAI (ENG) 68 69 68 69, T TREE (ENG) 67 67 72 68, R WATTEL (FRA) 65 71 70 68, S HEND (AUS) 71 66 70 67, M JIMINEZ (ESP) 66 68 74 66,
275 J HANSEN (DEN) 69 66 70 70, J HARDING (RSA) 67 65 74 69, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 67 70 69 69,
276 T DETRY (BEL) 64 72 66 74, R BLAND (ENG) 65 66 73 72, D DRYSDALE (SCO) 65 70 70 71, J GUERRIER (FRA) 70 67 69 70, B EASTON (RSA) 66 69 72 69,
277 M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 69 69 72,
278 R MCEVOY (ENG) 70 66 70 72,
279 T PULKKANEN (FIN) 70 67 70 72, W BESSELING (NED) 70 67 75 67,
281 L SLATTERY (ENG) 69 67 71 74, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 67 70 71 73, P LARRAZABAL (ESP) 69 67 74 71,
282 D HOWELL (ENG) 64 71 73 74, R ENOCH (WAL) 66 70 72 74,
283 E CUARTERO BLANCO (ESP) 71 66 73 73,
285 C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 67 69 81, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 69 65 77 74, D LAW (SCO) 68 68 76 73.

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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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