Erik van Rooyen is a maiden European Tour champion at the age of 29. Joe Hughes wraps up the action from the Scandinavian Invitation
Scandinavian Invitation report: What happened at Hills Golf Club?
While the sporting world was watching a spectacular climax to the third Ashes Test at Headingley, the Scandinavian Invitation was producing a dramatic finish of its own.
Erik van Rooyen and Matthew Fitzpatrick had gone blow-for-blow throughout the final round, and when the South African bogeyed 17, his English counterpart was making birdie up ahead at 18.
It moved them both to 18-under par for the championship and Fitzpatrick, a winner here in 2016, could only watch on from the clubhouse.
Van Rooyen didn’t make it easy for himself, leaving his approach short at the par-5 18th, but he got up and down for birdie and an emotional victory that’s been a long time coming for the 29-year-old.
Just look what it meant to him:
Henrik Stenson, who skipped the FedEx Cup Play-offs to play in his home tournament, and Dean Burmester finished tied for 3rd at 14-under, while a host of players, including Wales’ Jamie Donaldson, finished a shot further back.
The English trio of Sam Horsfield, Andrew Johnston and Matthew Southgate were among the pack on 12-under.
It’s the third year in a row the Scandinavian Invitation has been the setting for a first-time European Tour champion. Van Rooyen joins Renato Paratore and Paul Waring as maiden champions in Sweden.
Scandinavian Invitation report: What the winner said
Scandinavian Invitation report: Talking points
Ahead of this week’s event, the European Tour announced that they have put a four-point plan in place to eradicate slow play.
The tour announced that they would be trialling new pace-of-play system at next month’s BMW PGA Championship and introducing one shot penalties among other things.
Steve Carroll has taken a look at exactly what the European Tour are planning to do in greater detail here.
**
As the tour landed in Sweden, we knew that Henrik Stenson would be teeing it up in his home nation.
Rarely seen on European shores, Stenson brought his A-game as well as his sense of humour, as Matt Ftizpatrick found out.
Stenson was far from being the only Swede in town – Alex Noren also appeared prominently throughout the week.
On Friday, his ball very nearly found the water but that was no problem for the Ryder Cup star who lost his sock and shoe to play the shot.
Noren also appeared on our social media feeds this week as he took part in the 14 Club Challenge, going head-to-head with defending champion Paul Waring.
**
One of the European Tour’s biggest plusses is the variety of courses and places that are visited and with that we get tastes of local cultures and wildlife.
Saturday’s third round was briefly interrupted as a moose meandered onto the seventh green causing a small amount of damage that was quickly repaired.
Still, it’s good to the see the wildlife thriving.
[post_list title=”Latest from NCG” posts=]
