Sergio Garcia secured his 16th European Tour title following a one shot victory on his debut at the 100th edition of the KLM Open.
The Spaniard endured a mixed front nine where he was leading by two at the fifth, only to be trailing playing partner Callum Shinkwin by one shot at the seventh following back to back bogeys at The International.
However, a double bogey at the tenth by the Englishman handed Garcia the initiative and the 39-year-old used his experience to hold off the chasing pack by a single stroke with an 18 under par total.
Danish rising star Nicolai Højgaard, making just his seventh European Tour start, surged into contention and was briefly joint leader with four holes remaining, but came up just short in sole second.
Matt Wallace was third at 15 under, while fellow Englishman James Morrison was one shot further back as Garcia became the first Spanish winner of the KLM Open since Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño in 2005.
Rikard Karlberg was one shot further back with fellow Swede Joakim Lagergren, Chilean Hugo Leon and Dutchman Wil Besseling at 11 under. Home favourite and two time winner Joost Luiten carded a ten under par total in a tie for tenth, alongside Belgian Thomas Pieters, Welshman Bradley Dredge, Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera and England’s Matthew Southgate.
Player Quotes
Sergio Garcia: “It was honestly amazing to have my brother, Angie my wife and little Azalea, it’s very special. Amazing, we had a great week and great to win again.
“I played well all week under pressure. It wasn’t easy, there were a couple of tough moments today but I hung on tough, that’s the most important thing.
“There was obviously a little bit of nerves here and there. Today wasn’t easy, it was quite breezy and was blowing in a different direction again so it wasn’t playing easy at all, but I played nicely again. A couple of mistakes here and there but other than that, I felt like I played really well and that’s why I’m standing here I guess.
“It means a lot to be part of that amazing group, to be there with Seve. Well it is the most important name in Spanish golf, him then Jose Maria and then Miguel (Angel Jimenez), myself and Jon (Rahm) and Rafa (Cabrera Bello) and many others but it is a great treat to be part of that group.”
Nicolai Højgaard: “It was fun out there. I got a good start and everything came down to one putt, so I’m very proud of being in the chance of getting a play-off with Sergio (Garcia), so I’m pleased to be here.
“It was close, but when I hit I knew it was left. It was close but I am happy to have a putt to force a play-off and I’m speechless right now.
“This week means I’m playing European Tour tournaments next year. I’ve been in-between with everything so I’m hopefully on my way up there so that would mean a lot.”
Final Scores
270 S Garcia (Esp) 68 67 66 69,
271 N Højgaard (Den) 67 69 67 68,
273 M Wallace (Eng) 75 67 63 68,
274 J Morrison (Eng) 68 67 69 70,
275 C Shinkwin (Eng) 66 69 66 74,
276 R Karlberg (Swe) 70 68 70 68,
277 H Leon (Chi) 70 69 68 70, W Besseling (Ned) 72 66 69 70, J Lagergren (Swe) 71 66 69 71,
278 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 69 67 70, B Dredge (Wal) 72 65 72 69, M Southgate (Eng) 67 68 70 73, T Pieters (Bel) 71 66 70 71, J Luiten (Ned) 69 69 70 70,
279 G Coetzee (RSA) 71 69 67 72, P Reed (USA) 72 69 70 68, P Harrington (Irl) 71 71 68 69, L Johnston (Sco) 70 68 72 69, S Brown (Eng) 69 68 68 74, A Chesters (Eng) 71 68 69 71,
280 S Jamieson (Sco) 68 65 76 71, A Rozner (Fra) 70 67 71 72, A Romero (Arg) 70 69 70 71, K Kitayama (USA) 69 70 70 71, B Stone (RSA) 70 72 70 68, E Molinari (Ita) 70 71 69 70,
281 R Langasque (Fra) 68 71 70 72, C Paisley (Eng) 67 73 71 70, H Tanihara (Jpn) 69 71 70 71, R Caron (Ned) 68 69 71 73, J McLeod (Aus) 70 68 73 70, J Wang (Kor) 72 68 70 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 68 73 71, P Dunne (Irl) 71 69 73 68, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 70 70 71,
282 T Detry (Bel) 71 70 70 71, M Orrin (Eng) 68 69 74 71, J Winther (Den) 71 69 67 75, S Crocker (USA) 70 72 66 74,
283 C Wood (Eng) 72 70 70 71, G Green (Mas) 67 73 72 71, S Sharma (Ind) 70 68 70 75, E Kofstad (Nor) 72 70 67 74, L Slattery (Eng) 74 67 71 71, E De La Riva (Esp) 69 68 70 76, E Walker (Sco) 72 69 69 73, J Veerman (USA) 69 73 72 69,
284 T Merritt (USA) 73 65 75 71,
285 D Gavins (Eng) 70 71 72 72, P Figueiredo (Por) 70 70 71 74, S Horsfield (Eng) 67 69 74 75, N Bertasio (Ita) 71 68 77 69, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 74 65 71 75, N McCarthy (Eng) 74 68 72 71,
286 A Wu (Chn) 69 72 73 72, S Manley (Wal) 73 69 75 69, R Ramsay (Sco) 73 69 72 72, H Porteous (RSA) 68 72 73 73, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 70 72 74,
287 T Immelman (RSA) 73 69 73 72, D Law (Sco) 72 70 73 72, G Bhullar (Ind) 72 69 76 70, K Kouwenaar (am) (Ned) 68 70 75 74,
288 G Moynihan (Irl) 70 71 68 79,
289 M Warren (Sco) 67 74 70 78, M Korhonen (Fin) 70 69 76 74,
290 N Lemke (Swe) 73 69 72 76, A Karlsson (Swe) 70 69 78 73, R Saxton (Ned) 69 73 71 77,
291 S Soderberg (Swe) 75 67 74 75, P Langfors (Swe) 67 73 75 76,
294 C Blomstrand (Swe) 74 67 74 79, S Maurits (Ned) 71 71 76 76,
** H Endycott (Aus) 75 67 68 RT,
143 A Connelly (Can) 76 67 0 0, A Bland (Aus) 72 71 0 0, D Drysdale (Sco) 73 70 0 0, L De Jager (RSA) 71 72 0 0, P Oriol (Esp) 73 70 0 0, S Chawrasia (Ind) 74 69 0 0, D Papadatos (Aus) 72 71 0 0, D Lawson (Aus) 71 72 0 0, M Kaymer (Ger) 77 66 0 0, R Gouveia (Por) 72 71 0 0, N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 73 0 0,
144 A Cañizares (Esp) 78 66 0 0, T Murray (Eng) 73 71 0 0, V Perez (Fra) 70 74 0 0, C Sordet (Fra) 75 69 0 0, L Gagli (Ita) 71 73 0 0, J Van Zyl (RSA) 76 68 0 0, M Reynolds (Ned) 75 69 0 0, R Wattel (Fra) 73 71 0 0, M Campbell (Nzl) 75 69 0 0, J Singh Brar (Eng) 71 73 0 0, Z Lombard (RSA) 75 69 0 0, N Cullen (Aus) 73 71 0 0, J Girrbach (Sui) 74 70 0 0, B Ritthammer (Ger) 73 71 0 0, K Reitan (Nor) 72 72 0 0, K Johannessen (Nor) 75 69 0 0, S Gregory (Eng) 71 73 0 0, B Reuter (am) (Ned) 74 70 0 0,
145 M Pavon (Fra) 72 73 0 0, L Westwood (Eng) 70 75 0 0, M Penge (Eng) 70 75 0 0, M Siem (Ger) 71 74 0 0, G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 73 72 0 0, M Schmitt (Ger) 76 69 0 0, B Henson (USA) 75 70 0 0, B Geurts (am) (Ned) 73 72 0 0,
146 J McDonald (Sco) 73 73 0 0, M Toorop (Ned) 74 72 0 0, F Zanotti (Par) 74 72 0 0, J Dantorp (Swe) 74 72 0 0, L Jensen (Den) 72 74 0 0, A Saddier (Fra) 73 73 0 0, D Hillier (Nzl) 78 68 0 0, M Lafeber (Ned) 72 74 0 0,
147 B Rumford (Aus) 75 72 0 0, R Jacquelin (Fra) 75 72 0 0, D Borda (Esp) 79 68 0 0, S Valimaki (Fin) 76 71 0 0, B Evans (Eng) 73 74 0 0, R Van West (Ned) 74 73 0 0, O Fisher (Eng) 75 72 0 0, M Nixon (Eng) 73 74 0 0, W Nienaber (RSA) 71 76 0 0, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 72 75 0 0, K Van Der Weele (am) (Ned) 71 76 0 0,
148 M Hoey (Nir) 75 73 0 0, D Howell (Eng) 77 71 0 0, G Forrest (Sco) 75 73 0 0, S Hend (Aus) 75 73 0 0, J Olazábal (Esp) 76 72 0 0,
150 R Karlsson (Swe) 78 72 0 0,
151 J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 78 73 0 0, D Stewart (Sco) 75 76 0 0, J Choi (Kor) 79 72 0 0,
152 D Boshart (Ned) 77 75 0 0, D Horsey (Eng) 77 75 0 0, M Albertus (Ned) 80 72 0 0, J Campillo (Esp) 79 73 0 0, K Koivu (Fin) 77 75 0 0, D Antonisse (am) (Ned) 79 73 0 0,
153 M Manassero (Ita) 78 75 0 0, J Catlin (USA) 78 75 0 0,
154 J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 79 75 0 0, H Park (Kor) 75 79 0 0, S Kim (USA) 78 76 0 0,
155 L Keunen (Ned) 77 78 0 0,
158 J Ballesteros (Esp) 78 80 0 0,
161 E Lopez-Chacarra (am) (Esp) 85 76 0 0,
** D Porsius (Ned) 84 WD 0 0, D Cooke (USA) DQ 0 0 0, F Bergamaschi (Ita) RT 0 0 0,
