England’s Matt Fitzpatrick held his nerve to win the Nordea Masters - which he only entered at the last minute - by three strokes in Stockholm on Sunday.
The 21-year-old, who went into the final round five shots clear but saw his lead cut to two at the turn, was a model of consistency over the four days as he captured only his second European Tour title at Bro Hof Slott Golf Club.
Fitzpatrick, ranked 45 in the world, sealed the crown with a final-round 71 to get to 16-under-par overall, and in the process greatly boosted his chances of a Ryder Cup debut in the autumn.
“It was a great final day for me and I managed to hold onto my lead fairly well and get the win. I felt like today was the round were I would be under the most pressure,” Fitzpatrick said, as he became the youngest winner of the Nordea Masters. “I was keeping an eye on where I needed to get to but I was just taking one hole at a time and I was so zoned in to my own game, I didn’t know what was going on around me half the time. I’m a million miles ahead of schedule. It’s been a tough past few weeks and all of a sudden you turn up and pick up a win.”
The former US Amateur champion, who finished tied seventh at the Masters in Augusta in April, carried his good form into the Swedish capital to close out victory ahead of Dane Lasse Jensen in second. Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts was third, four off Fitzpatrick. Henrik Stenson, the world number six, was tied fourth with fellow Swede Bjorn Hellgren.
Nordqvist successfully defends LPGA Classic title
Swede Anna Nordqvist became the oldest winner on the youthful LPGA Tour this year when she successfully defended her title at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey on Sunday.
Nordqvist, who started the final round two strokes behind overnight leader Karine Icher of France, shrugged off strong winds and stormed to victory with a bogey-free seven-under 64 on the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Golf Club in Galloway.
She finished at 17-under-par 196, one stroke ahead of Japan’s Haru Nomura (66). Icher did not do a lot wrong, but a closing 69 was only good enough to earn her third place, three strokes behind the winner.
Nordqvist, who turns 29 on Friday, is not exactly ancient, but it speaks volumes of the youth movement in women’s golf that she became the oldest 2016 winner by five years.
All previous 14 LPGA events this year had been won by players 23 or younger, with Lydio Ko the youngest winner at the age of 18 years, 11 months when she won consecutive tournaments in late March and early April. “It feels really special because I’ve been playing pretty good all spring,” Nordqvist said after collecting her sixth LPGA victory. “I just haven’t really got any results, and it really got frustrating there for a while.
“My caddie just told me to stay patient and so did the rest of my team, because they knew how well I was playing, getting really zero out of it. Sometimes the longer you have to wait and the more patient you have to stay, the sweeter it feels when it finally pays off.” Nordqvist also became the first European winner in almost a year, since Suzann Pettersen of Norway claimed the Manulife LPGA Classic last June. The tour since then has been dominated by players from east Asian countries.
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