Lucas Bjerregaard produced one of the best performances of his career to claim his maiden European Tour title at the Portugal Masters, closing out a 54-hole lead at the third time of asking.
The Dane, who was 114th on the Race to Dubai Rankings and battling to save his card when he arrived at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, fired eight birdies in a closing 65 to finish 20 under par and four clear of Scotland’s Marc Warren.
This was the third time in his career that the 26 year old was at the top of the leader board going into the final day, and this time he made it count after ultimately losing out at the 2015 UBS Hong Kong Open and the 2016 Volvo China Open.
A lovely pitch to eight feet set up a gain on the fourth for Bjerregaard, and he went back-to-back by getting up-and-down from a bunker on the par five fifth before holing from 25 feet on the eighth.
He overshot his approach to the ninth and then miscued his chip, with the subsequent bogey seeing his advantage halved as South Africa’s George Coetzee and Graeme Storm of England applied some pressure.
Back-to-back birdies at the tenth and 11th sent him clear again, and although Bjerregaard dropped another shot on the 14th after finding sand off the tee, he picked up his seventh and eighth gains of the day on the 15th and 17th to complete a commanding victory.
Warren, who came into the week even further back at 173rd on the Race to Dubai Rankings, boosted his chances of retaining his card with a closing 67, aided by an eagle on the 17th. He finished in outright second place after Coetzee found water at the last and ran up a triple bogey.
Storm and fellow Englishman Eddie Pepperell tied for third on 15 under par, with home favourites Ricardo Gouveia and José-Filipe Lima a shot further back.
Lucas Bjerregaard
Picture - Getty Images
