Clément Sordet cruised to his third European Challenge Tour title by carding a final round of 67 to win the inaugural edition of the Viking Challenge by five shots.
Heavy rain earlier in the week had caused the competition to be reduced to 54 holes, with the final round at Miklagard Golf taking place today.
Sordet began the day with a share of the lead, but after four birdies in his first six holes, the Frenchman moved into a commanding position that he would not relinquish.
The 24 year old, whose previous Challenge Tour victories came at the 2015 Northern Ireland Open and the 2016 Turkish Airlines Challenge, did see his lead reduced to two after making a double bogey on the par four 14th – his only blemish of the day.
But after consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th Sordet went into the final two holes with a four-shot cushion.
A par at the last handed Sordet a third Challenge Tour victory in three years – and meant the Frenchman sealed his place in next week’s Rolex Trophy.
“I am delighted to get into the Rolex Trophy,” he said. “I was supposed to go to Denmark and play on the European Tour next week but now I have to change my flight so I can travel to Geneva.
“It feels amazing and I played unbelievably all week. I putted so well and I made pretty much everything today, and I shot a very good five under.
“I got a tough break on 14 but then I made back-to-back birdies – it was great to be able to bounce back like that.
“It was different to my other wins today. I was leading by three with three to play – I’ve never been in that position before – so I didn’t know whether I should just lay up or not on the par five 16th.
“In the end I decided to go for it, as I had been playing well all day, and I made a nice birdie and after that I was sure that I was going to win.
“I am averaging one victory a year now! I would like to thank everyone – my coach, my family and my girlfriend, for their support.
“I made a very slow start to the season so to get a win is very important. It is a long season though and after this week anything can happen.”
With victory in Norway Sordet rises up 49 places and is now 14th on the 2017 Road to Oman.
Also making moves up the Rankings were England’s Charlie Ford, the Netherlands’ Daan Huizing and Scotland’s Jack Doherty – who all finished five shots behind Sordet in second place.
Final scores:
203 C Sordet (Fra) 70 66 67,
208 J Doherty (Sco) 70 68 70, D Huizing (Ned) 69 67 72, C Ford (Eng) 72 68 68,
210 A Wennstam (Swe) 72 68 70, C Koepka (USA) 72 67 71, C Del Moral (Esp) 72 66 72,
211 C Blomstrand (Swe) 72 68 71, M Schwab (Aut) 74 68 69,
212 R Evans (Eng) 70 73 69, R Enoch (Wal) 69 70 73, T Tree (Eng) 71 70 71, M Madsen (Den) 71 72 69, A Zemmer (Ita) 72 67 73,
213 B Eccles (Aus) 71 68 74, S Fernandez (Esp) 74 68 71, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 71 69, M Ford (Eng) 74 69 70, M Kinhult (Swe) 67 75 71, E Bertheussen (Nor) 70 71 72,
214 A Bernadet (Fra) 73 68 73, R Kellett (Sco) 72 70 72, N Johansson (Swe) 72 68 74, M Lundberg (Swe) 71 69 74,
215 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 69 76, P Howard (Eng) 73 71 71, S Kim (USA) 67 75 73, B Hellgren (Swe) 70 75 70, B Evans (Eng) 70 74 71, B Poke (Den) 70 72 73, K Samooja (Fin) 70 71 74, P Widegren (Swe) 74 72 69, T Lawrence (RSA) 68 75 72, S Piaget (Mon) 72 70 73, M Lampert (Ger) 73 69 73, V Riu (Fra) 69 74 72, J Sarasti (Esp) 72 74 69,
216 S Hutsby (Eng) 70 72 74, E Goya (Arg) 73 72 71, J Elson (Eng) 68 74 74, R McEvoy (Eng) 74 70 72, M Trappel (Aut) 71 74 71, A Saddier (Fra) 71 72 73, A Olsen (Nor) 73 71 72,
217 J Heath (Eng) 71 71 75, R Saxton (Ned) 72 71 74, A Bjornsson (Isl) 73 73 71, P Mejow (Ger) 74 72 71, N Geyger (Chi) 71 75 71, L Vaisanen (Fin) 73 73 71,
218 B Hafthorsson (Isl) 73 70 75, N O’Briain (Irl) 71 74 73, R Green (Aus) 74 71 73, M Laskey (Wal) 72 72 74, G Moynihan (Irl) 73 72 73,
219 S Henry (Sco) 73 69 77, V Maroy (Nor) 72 74 73, G Hurley (Irl) 74 72 73, J McDonald (Sco) 72 73 74, M Cort (Eng) 73 72 74, M Wiegele (Aut) 69 77 73,
220 T Murray (Eng) 69 72 79, J McLeary (Sco) 70 76 74, T Linard (Fra) 74 70 76, J Dantorp (Swe) 74 70 76,
221 M Ovesen (Den) 70 75 76,
222 M Søgaard (Den) 74 72 76,
223 A Altuntas (Tur) 77 68 78,
225 M Hoey (Nir) 72 72 81,
** S Forsström (Swe) 69 76 WD,
147 J Pastor (Esp) 76 71 0, N Cullen (Aus) 75 72 0, H Rönneblad (Swe) 74 73 0, R Hjelm (Den) 73 74 0, R Davies (Wal) 73 74 0, J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 74 73 0, E Johansen (Nor) 73 74 0, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 73 74 0, D Berna Manzanares (Esp) 74 73 0, M Baldwin (Eng) 72 75 0, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 76 71 0, J Brun (Fra) 77 70 0, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 74 73 0,
148 M Schneider (Ger) 75 73 0, K Phelan (Irl) 74 74 0, H Joannes (Bel) 73 75 0, A Maestroni (Ita) 73 75 0, K Johannessen (Nor) 73 75 0, R Echenique (Arg) 75 73 0, A Ellingsberg (Nor) 72 76 0, J Hansen (Den) 73 75 0, L Gerhardsen (Nor) 77 71 0, P Tarver-Jones (Eng) 76 72 0, J Sjöholm (Swe) 76 72 0, C Mivis (Bel) 74 74 0, D Foos (Ger) 73 75 0, J Arnoy (Nor) 77 71 0, R James (Wal) 72 76 0,
149 E Di Nitto (Ita) 78 71 0, F Maccario (Ita) 74 75 0, N Ravano (Ita) 79 70 0, R Santos (Por) 75 74 0, K Eriksson (Swe) 74 75 0, N Lindstrom (Swe) 79 70 0, G King (Eng) 77 72 0, C Braeunig (Ger) 75 74 0, J Guerrier (Fra) 75 74 0, O Stark (Swe) 74 75 0,
150 C Selfridge (Nir) 75 75 0, J Makitalo (Fin) 78 72 0, G Boyd (Eng) 74 76 0, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 76 74 0, C Aronsen (Nor) 74 76 0, P Mikalsen (Nor) 76 74 0, J Allan (Eng) 74 76 0, E Dubois (Fra) 77 73 0, S Aadusaar (Est) 75 75 0,
151 F Bergamaschi (Ita) 77 74 0, J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 72 79 0, L Nemecz (Aut) 73 78 0, O Wilson (Eng) 77 74 0, C Griffiths (Eng) 75 76 0, K Johanson (am) (Nor) 72 79 0,
152 S Stavnar (Nor) 80 72 0, J Rutherford (Eng) 76 76 0, L Galliano (Sui) 78 74 0, W Besseling (Ned) 73 79 0, S Grant (Irl) 77 75 0, O Lindell (Fin) 80 72 0, W Harrold (Eng) 74 78 0, M Eggenberger (Sui) 74 78 0, J Bower (Eng) 78 74 0, M Heien (Nor) 79 73 0,
153 M Ulseth (Nor) 76 77 0, S Jeppesen (Swe) 76 77 0, J Vecchi Fossa (Ita) 76 77 0, B Neil (Sco) 77 76 0, T Shadbolt (Eng) 80 73 0, M Braadlie (am) (Nor) 75 78 0,
154 O Loftsson (Isl) 79 75 0, S Einhaus (Ger) 76 78 0,
155 F Daux (Fra) 78 77 0, B Skogen (am) (Nor) 78 77 0, J Volden (am) (Nor) 82 73 0,
156 L Cianchetti (Ita) 77 79 0, G Pinto (Por) 80 76 0, R Charania (Ken) 79 77 0,
158 P Roos (Fin) 78 80 0, J Ramos (Por) 77 81 0, K Krokeide (am) (Nor) 82 76 0,
167 S Isik (Tur) 84 83 0,
173 J Johannessen (Nor) 91 82 0,
** R Kakko (Fin) 74 DQ 0, M Tullo (Chi) 76 DQ 0, P Maddy (Eng) 81 WD 0, M Pastor (Esp) 79 WD 0,
