In a tightly contested Soudal Open, it was Nacho Elvira who broke Belgian hearts as the Spaniard fired a level-par final round 71 to pick up a second DP World Tour title and his first in three years.
Throughout the final round at Rinkven International Golf Club, we saw the lead challenged regularly throughout, as the likes of LIV Golf’s Thomas Pieters and former part-time delivery driver, Joe Dean, were the nearest challengers to Elvira.
Beginning the fourth and final day, Elvira took the joint largest 54-hole lead of the season into Sunday, following rounds of 64, 64 and 67, giving him a four shot advantage going into the final 18 holes.
Out of the gate, Elvira got off to the perfect start, with an opening birdie moving him five shots clear. However, the pack soon started to chase him down and, after a wayward drive on the seventh, play was suspended in Belgium due to flooded greens.
Following the delay, the players returned and, after making bogey following his tee shot, Elvira saw his advantage standing at just one going into the back nine, as Dean made three birdies in five holes to round out his front nine.
Elvira during the final round of the Soudal Open
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Leading by one, the Spaniard soon found his one shot lead disappear briefly after a bogey at the 10th, but a birdie at the 11th kept him out front, something which he managed to maintain as the field couldn’t close in on the 37-year-old.
Setting the clubhouse target of 17-under-par, Pieters had done all he could to win on home soil, with Romain Langasque and Niklas Norgaard also joining the Belgian at 17-under. However, sitting at 18-under, it was Elvira’s to lose going down the 72nd hole.
Sticking his approach to 25-feet, two putts would wrap up the title and, rather comfortably, that’s exactly what he did, as Elvira rolled it up next to the hole and tapped-in for a closing par.
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