Thorbjørn Olesen claimed his eighth DP World Tour title in dominant fashion as he won the Ras Al Khaimah Championship by six strokes.
The 34-year-old Dane overcame a nervy start at Al Hamra Golf Club as he went on to card a five under par final round, finishing six strokes clear of compatriot Rasmus Højgaard and winning his second title in less than 12 months.
His four-stroke overnight lead over Højgaard was slowly chipped away as he carded a double bogey on the second, cancelling out birdies on the first and third, with Højgaard drawing level on 22 under par after he carded four birdies on his opening seven holes.
EAGLE AT THE 8TH CALMS NERVES
But the youngster’s momentum was halted after a bogey at the eighth, with Olesen striking a sublime 5-wood to set up a six-foot eagle putt, which he converted for a three-stroke swing and a three-shot lead at the turn.
He restored his advantage to four after a birdie on the 10th and two further gains on 14 and 18 saw him finish six clear of Højgaard, who carded a final round 69 for a 21 under par total, with Frederic Lacroix of France recording a career-best result on the DP World Tour, finishing one stroke further back on 20 under.
In a share of fourth place on 17 under par were the German pair of Max Kieffer and Yannik Paul, Japan’s Keita Nakajima, Brandon Stone and first round leader Callum Shinkwin.
Olesen, whose last win came at the Thailand Classic 11 months ago, said: “This is very special. It got close, and I knew it was going to be tough, but I played some nice golf coming in and holed the right putts at the right time.
“I didn’t get off to the best of starts. You’re always going to have some bad stretches in tournaments. I had it there and I was just trying to be patient and hopefully start hitting some good shots. That 5-wood on eight was very special and being able to hole the putt also put me in a good position.
“I said a couple of days ago that I’ve been putting really well of late. I had a few days where pretty much everything went in. Then on 17 it could have easily been a two-shot swing, but I managed to hole that putt. I would like to just keep rolling it like this.”
The win will take Olesen back inside the top 60 in the world ranking for the first time since 2019, the year he was suspended from the European Tour following a drunken incident on a flight back from America. He was later cleared of all charges.
Final Scores:
261 T OLESEN (DEN) 69 62 63 67,
267 R HOJGAARD (DEN) 66 64 68 69,
268 F LACROIX (FRA) 65 69 66 68,
271 M KIEFFER (GER) 69 67 69 66, K NAKAJIMA (JPN) 72 66 66 67, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 62 69 72 68, Y PAUL (GER) 67 68 68 68, B STONE (RSA) 64 70 67 70,