Nacho Elvira signed a brave result of 71 (even) to remain leader and claim his second title of DP World Tour (European Tour) at the Soudal Open in Belgium after a dramatic afternoon at Rinkven International Golf Club in Antwerp.
The Spaniard entered the final day with a four-stroke lead and quickly extended it to five, but eventually found himself on the green of the 18th hole at 18 strokes under par to see his playing partner Niklas Nørgaard with a putt for birdie and forcing the tiebreaker.
The Dane, however, missed his 4-meter putt, leaving Elvira to celebrate a one-stroke victory, with Frenchman Romain Langasque and local favorite Thomas Pieters sharing second place.
England’s Joe Dean and Matthew Jordan were 16 under par, with Dean the only player to briefly team with Elvira in an exciting fourth round.
Elvira’s victory was a reward for her remarkable consistency in a 2024 season in which she missed out by just one stroke and finished second at the Magical Kenya Open. The victory of Elvira, 37, in the 2021 Cazoo Welsh Open came after a playoff, despite the fact that she reached the final round with a lead of six strokes, and here she probably thought she would need more hole for qualification. .
A broken two-iron in the warm-up and a 23-minute rain delay midway through the round didn’t help, but Elvira showed impressive determination to get over the line and fought back tears in her winner’s interview .
“I’m very happy. I was a little emotional because I know that all the work I did once did not show. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Today I’m not comfortable on the tee, I made a mistake with the drive and here you have to hit it well because I know I didn’t hit well, but I tried to keep the ball and hang on,” Elvira told Sky.
Elvira joins her brother Manuel on the DP World Tour this season following her graduation from the European Challenge Tour and the elder Elvira hopes her brother can take inspiration from her success.
“It’s special. You work hard and I tried to teach him that this sport doesn’t pay off fast, you have to be patient. So I hope he can learn something from this and keep working hard,” added the Santander native.
Elvira has a total of 266 strokes, one less than Norgaard and Langasque. The Spaniard, who in the three previous days was very solid with two 64s (-7) and a 67 (-4), finished the course on the last day in 71 strokes (even), with two birdies and two bogeys. He is not the first Spaniard to win this tournament, one of the oldest on the European Tour. In the past they won it among others Txema Olazábal and Miguel Ángel Jiménez
The one from Madrid Sebastian Garcia He finished in the top ten with 269 hits (-15).
Source: La Verdad
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