Samooja secures Porsche European Open in style

Kalle Samooja carded a new course record of 64 in the final round of the Porsche European Open to win his maiden DP World Tour title at Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg.

The Finn, who started the day seven strokes back on two over par, carded a flawless eight under par round, recording all eight birdies on the final 13 holes of the formidable Porsche Nord Course. He is just the third player in the last 30 years, and the first since Jeev Milkha Singh at the 2006 Volvo Masters at Real Club Valderrama, to win after carding just one under par round with scores of 72-72-74-64.

The 34-year-old faced a nervy two-hour wait as he set the clubhouse target of six under par with overnight leader Victor Perez and Dutchman Wil Besseling chasing the title.

After a recovering from a double bogey on the 15th hole with a birdie on the 16^th, Besseling then dropped just his third shot of the day on the par three 17^th before closing with a final birdie to finish second on four under – his best result on the DP World Tour in 112 starts.

Three bogeys on his closing seven holes put paid to Perez’s title bid as he sought back-to-back DP World Tour titles after winning last week’s Dutch Open, settling for a share of third on three under par with Englishman Richard Mansell, who carded a closing two under par 70.

Mansell’s third-place finish earned him a place at the U.S. Open in two weeks’ time, finishing ninth on the 2022 European Qualifying Series for the third Major Championship of the season at The Country Club, Brookline.

Germany’s Marcel Schneider shared fifth place with four others as he earned the tenth and final spot of this year’s Qualifying Series, with the top ten aggregate points earners from the last four DP World Tour events set to tee it up in Massachusetts.

2022 U.S. Open European Qualifying Series

Final scores