Danish golfer Lucas Bjerregaard secured his first European Tour win at the 2017 Portugal Masters, shooting a four-round total of 20-under-par to finish four strokes ahead of Scotland’s Marc Warren.
The 26-year-old is taking home €333,330 of the €2 million prize money and has practically secured a spot in next year’s European Tour climbing from 114th to 47th in the Race to Dubai.
The event, held between September 21 and 24 at the Victoria Golf Course in Vilamorua, also saw Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Filipe Lima finish fifth, the best performance ever by Portuguese golfers in the competition.
Each of them is taking home €77,400 and the hope that they can still reach the top 100, which would ensure their place in the tour next year.
Bjerregaard, who like his Portuguese rivals also entered the Portugal Masters battling to save his tour card, said: “It feels really good. It’s definitely not been the year I’ve been looking for.
“To be honest, it’s been really tough, so to be in contention again felt really good and to come out on top feels even better.”
This was the third time in his career that Bjerregaard 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.
“I’ve been in this position a couple of times before so to finally come through and get my first win feels really good.”
The tournament proved to be another success story for Portuguese golf, according to PGA Portugal, with high attendance numbers, televised events, and international golf prizes received by the Algarve and Portugal contributing to the development of the event.
Photo by: 2017 GETTY IMAGES
