Niklas Norgaard became the second Dane in three years to win the Betfred British Masters with a final round of 72 at The Belfry.
The two-shot victory, which followed Thorbjorn Olesen’s win in 2022, is Norgaard’s first on the DP World Tour, and comes over four years after his last professional win, the Esbjerg Open on the Nordic Golf League.
At the start of the day, Norgaard held a four-shot over lead over South African Thriston Lawrence thanks to a stunning round of 64, which he described as “probably the best” he had ever played.
Of course, getting over the line, particularly after so long without a professional win, is easier said than done. If he needed a reminder of that, he got it on the par-four second, which he bogeyed after finding a greenside bunker with his second shot.
However, any nerves were soon steadied by his first birdie of the day on the following hole. Another bogey followed on the eighth, but Norgaard was largely keeping his opponents at arm’s length heading into the back nine.
Lawrence then put Norgaard under considerable pressure with birdies at the 10th and 11th, but the Dane’s second birdie of the day on the 12th helped him reassert control at the top of the leaderboard.
Norgaard's third birdie of the day followed on the 14th, but any thoughts he had of a drama-free end to the day went out of the window on the 15th where he ran into all sorts of trouble after his second shot found the deep rough to the right of the green.
Even from there he was just 23 yards from the pin, although his chipping let him down badly and ensured he needed another four shots to complete the hole.
What have we just seen?! 🫣Niklas Nørgaard makes a double-bogey and now leads by just two.#BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/bApNV0q88BSeptember 1, 2024
That cut Norgaard's lead to just two, but he again composed himself. First, he holed a long putt for par on the 16th, before repeating the trick with his fourth birdie of the day at the 17th. Finally, he wrapped up his round with another par to finish even for the day, with Lawrence in second and fellow Dane Rasmus Hojgaard in third.
After his win, Norgaard couldn’t hide his delight at his maiden DP World Tour title. He said: “Very, very good. I never thought I was going to be - I almost didn't cry at my wedding, but yeah, this one is, yeah, since I started playing golf since I was 10, this is what I've been dreaming of. And this scene here is just something; so it means the world.”
