Thorbjørn Olesen earned his fourth European Tour title, and the biggest of his career, at the Turkish Airlines Open as the Dane completed a commanding three-shot victory courtesy of a two under par final round 69.
The 26 year old was in imperious form all week at Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort and held a seven-shot advantage heading into the final round.
He had to withstand brave challenges from China’s Li Haotong and Englishman David Horsey, who at one point got to within one shot of the lead, but Olesen held firm and three birdies in four holes from the 12th hole were crucial as he finished with a 20 under par winning total.
The win moves Olesen from 38th to ninth in the Race to Dubai, putting him in contention for a share of the US$5million bonus pool on offer for the top ten at the conclusion of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
Olesen will now fly to South Africa for the second tournament of the European Tour’s Final Series, the Nedbank Golf Challenge, where Henrik Stenson will hope to consolidate his place at the top of the Race to Dubai after Danny Willett did not do enough in Turkey to overtake the Swede.
Player quotes:
Thorbjørn Olesen
“It means a lot. It’s been a bad spell for me the last three or four months. I played well at the start of the season and felt like I had a good chance to actually make The Ryder Cup Team, but in the summer there, I just got into a bad spell and played bad in the big events.
“Coming back here and then winning such a big tournament is huge, especially because I haven’t been in contention for around four months, and then to get over the line and win this one is great.
“The last four holes were tough, I was not feeling my best and it was really difficult. But I managed to get it over line, and got a little bit of luck on 17. I took the shot on and hit a great shot from in the trees there.
“But it was very difficult those last four holes. Before that, I felt like I played some really great golf this week and I was very pleased with the way I did it. I was striking the ball a lot better, so that was good.”
David Horsey
“I sort of thought, if I could get to 20 under, that would be a reasonable effort and put a little bit of pressure. I just wanted to put on a little pressure early doors and thankfully I was able to do that. I just ran out of a bit of steam there on the back nine.
“I’m pleased with how I played. It’s probably the best I’ve played all week, so I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t keep it going on the back nine.
“I wasn’t looking at leaderboards. Like I said, I sort of had 20 in my head as to what I needed to get to, and obviously five-under through nine, it was realistically possible. But there were some poor wedge shots early in the back nine and I didn’t quite get it close enough. But I knew it was about 19, 20 all the time, so I knew I needed to get to 20 or 21 to have a chance.
“I take a lot of confidence from this, it’s probably as relaxed as I’ve ever felt playing in contention. If I can just sort of tidy up in a few areas, there’s no reason why I can’t continue contending in the near future.”
Li Haotong
“It’s fantastic for me. I think I did my best, and just like I said yesterday, a top five is really, really good for me. Actually the round was quite surprising for me, shooting five-under on the back nine.
“Actually when I made like four birdies in a row, after the fourth one, I thought, really, did I make four birdies in a row? I said wow, so it was pretty good day.
“I think I still need relax for every week. Don’t try too hard, like I did last week in China. It’s getting way better, especially after this week. I got a lot of World Ranking points and a lot of money, so that’s great.”
Bernd Wiesberger
“I’m glad we managed to play this week, after all was said and done by the promoter and everybody involved with the Turkish Airlines Open, I think everybody had a great week and so did we.
“I played nicely, and got myself somewhat back into the mix around the turn. But all in all, it was a good week. I’m happy with my performance and I made a good move in the Race to Dubai.
“I only made four bogeys all week again, similar to what I did at The Grove a couple of weeks ago and that’s really positive for me, not getting into trouble too much. When I did today with some wayward shots, I got away with it a little bit. But keeping the bogeys off the card, that’s a big positive to take into my final event in Dubai.”
Final Scores:
264 T Olesen (Den) 65 62 68 69,
267 L Haotong (Chn) 66 68 68 65, D Horsey (Eng) 67 67 68 65,
269 B Wiesberger (Aut) 66 70 66 67,
270 G Coetzee (RSA) 64 73 66 67,
271 J Lagergren (Swe) 70 64 70 67, D Lipsky (USA) 67 69 66 69,
272 P Larrazábal (Esp) 67 69 68 68,
273 N Elvira (Esp) 70 67 69 67,
274 T Hatton (Eng) 72 67 67 68, B An (Kor) 68 69 69 68, M Ilonen (Fin) 74 66 67 67,
275 J Wang (Kor) 67 70 68 70, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 63 71 71, D Drysdale (Sco) 67 68 69 71, R Gouveia (Por) 70 68 70 67,
276 J Campillo (Esp) 66 69 71 70, R Jacquelin (Fra) 69 69 69 69, R Bland (Eng) 70 68 70 68, M Manassero (Ita) 66 68 68 74, T Jaidee (Tha) 67 66 70 73,
277 A Johnston (Eng) 71 69 68 69, A Cañizares (Esp) 70 71 67 69, T Fleetwood (Eng) 71 71 67 68,
278 A Levy (Fra) 72 74 67 65, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 72 67 69 70, R Paratore (Ita) 71 71 67 69, A Sullivan (Eng) 71 67 70 70, L Jensen (Den) 71 71 69 67, S Hend (Aus) 68 72 68 70,
279 S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 72 68 70, P Harrington (Irl) 72 69 69 69, R Karlsson (Swe) 70 68 73 68, J Walters (RSA) 68 70 68 73, F Aguilar (Chi) 67 72 68 72, M Southgate (Eng) 72 72 67 68, D Fichardt (RSA) 70 73 67 69, G Bourdy (Fra) 72 70 66 71, G Havret (Fra) 69 69 71 70, J Carlsson (Swe) 68 74 67 70, L Bjerregaard (Den) 67 74 71 67, M Korhonen (Fin) 70 71 69 69,
280 N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 69 70 71, P Lawrie (Sco) 69 70 71 70, N Bertasio (Ita) 69 71 71 69, C Paisley (Eng) 71 70 72 67,
281 W Ashun (Chn) 70 70 69 72, V Dubuisson (Fra) 72 69 72 68, S Chawrasia (Ind) 74 69 69 69, M Warren (Sco) 68 75 67 71, O Fisher (Eng) 73 70 70 68,
282 R Ramsay (Sco) 71 68 69 74, J Quesne (Fra) 68 71 71 72, M Carlsson (Swe) 70 74 71 67, B Stone (RSA) 73 68 71 70, J Morrison (Eng) 70 67 72 73, L Slattery (Eng) 69 69 72 72, L Westwood (Eng) 70 70 73 69, R Rock (Eng) 69 68 71 74,
283 T Aiken (RSA) 71 75 67 70, M Kieffer (Ger) 73 73 69 68,
284 F Zanotti (Par) 70 74 73 67, D Brooks (Eng) 71 72 72 69, P Edberg (Swe) 72 69 69 74, N Holman (Aus) 75 71 69 69, R Wattel (Fra) 69 71 72 72, A Lahiri (Ind) 72 71 74 67,
286 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 71 70 75, B Hebert (Fra) 70 72 78 66, D Willett (Eng) 69 74 68 75, R Sterne (RSA) 71 70 72 73,
288 J Van Zyl (RSA) 76 72 71 69, H Porteous (RSA) 72 76 74 66,
292 C Shinkwin (Eng) 71 72 76 73, M Siem (Ger) 80 77 67 68,
294 A Altuntas (am) (Tur) 74 71 74 75,
306 M Guner (am) (Tur) 81 75 73 77,
312 L Acikalin (am) (Tur) 75 78 81 78,
