Jesper Svensson held his nerve to claim a maiden Challenge Tour win on an enthralling final day of the B-NL Challenge Trophy at Twentsche Golfclub in the Netherlands.
The Swede, playing in his first event of the 2023 season, fired a five under par final round 66 to reach 14 under par for the week to win by one shot ahead of South African Brandon Stone.
Stone led going to the 18th, but after an errant tee shot he could only bogey the last, leaving the door open for Svensson who made no mistake. Svensson, who had posted five birdies on the front nine, took the outright lead with a birdie on the 17th before parring the last to ensure a first win on the Challenge Tour.
The 27-year-old carded rounds of 69-68-67-66 to set up a memorable win that will ensure his playing privileges on the Road to Mallorca for the remainder of the season.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I can’t believe it. It was my first event of the season on the Challenge Tour for me, but my game has been there all year when I’ve played in the Nordic league events so it’s nice to get a shot out here.
“It’s huge for my career. I missed out on my full card last year so this makes it a lot easier to plan my schedule going forward.
“Both days this weekend I had some great putts that rolled in so that’s always nice. I made a huge putt on the first today to get into a good mood, and I kept it rolling well on the front after that.”
Svensson birdied his first hole of the day, and then added four more in a four hole stretch from hole four to seven. A bogey at the par five 12th nearly derailed his chances but he responded with a birdie on 17 to make sure of the win.
Anything can happen
“I hit a bad tee shot and three putted to make a bogey on 12," he said. "But it’s a tough course going down the stretch so anything can happen.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking, but when I hit my tee shot on 18 it was a good feeling when I saw it land in the fairway.
“I know there was a lot of people back home that were probably more nervous than me, so I’ll be calling my girlfriend and my grandparents after this for sure.”
English duo Alex Fitzpatrick and Will Enefer finished in a tie for third place on 12 under par with Enfer’s round of 66 including eagles on the fifth and 12th holes. Overnight leader Benjamin Hebert from France, American Cole Madey and Swede Christofer Blomstrand, who fired an eight under par final round 63, all finished on 11 under par to share fifth place.
Svensson’s win catapults him into 16th place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings. Frenchman Ugo Coussaud retains first place, with Stone climbing 14 places into second. South Africa’s JJ Senekal moves down one place to third, Adam Blomme from Sweden is in fourth and Zimbabwean Benjamin Follett-Smith completes the top five.
The Road to Mallorca heads to Denmark for the Copenhagen Challenge presented by Ejner Hessel from May 25-28 at Royal Golf Club.
