Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg won the Turkish Airlines Open by two strokes to wrap up his first DP World Tour title and consequently secure a maiden Major start at the upcoming PGA Championship.
His 10-under total highlighted just how difficult scoring had been at the new venue, with Lindberg’s opening round 66 remaining the outright lowest effort all week long.
A fine week in Turkiye followed on from his previous best finish on the DP World Tour the tournament prior where the 33-year-old ended solo third at the Volvo China Open.
And his sparkling conclusion to the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing arrived at the perfect time, too, with Lindberg ousting Jordan Gumberg from the top of the rankings to earn a bonus check for $200,000.
Not only that, but Lindberg, Gumberg and Bernd Wiesberger all booked their spots at the PGA Championship in two weeks’ time due to finishing in the top-three places of the Asian Swing rankings. For Lindberg, it will be his Major championship debut.
Asked how he felt coming down the final hole with so much on the line, including a winner’s check for almost $500,000, Lindberg was perhaps a little too honest.
He said: “My feelings on this last hole, I almost felt I wanted to throw up.”
Fighting back tears, the 13-year pro also went on to say: “This is a dream come true, I’ve been dreaming about this for so many years.
“I was in the lead after the first round and I just felt like… I don’t know how to describe this, but it’s been mentally very tough pretty much the whole week. So it’s very nice to pull it off.
“The weather on the front nine was actually a lot better than I expected, so I felt like I took advantage of that a little bit. It’s been a very tough last few holes but the last one was definitely tough, yeah.”
It was an extremely tense and tight final round of the Turkish Airlines Open, with both 54-hole co-leaders – Lindberg and Rodrigues – making birdie at the first.
However, the Swede bogeyed the third before his Portuguese rival…
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