Florida-based Englishman Sam Horsfield’s maiden win came in the land of his birth – a feat his mentor Ian Poulter has never achieved. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

SAM Horsfield claimed his maiden European Tour title at the Hero Open after showing nerves of steel down the stretch.

The Mancunian raised in Florida beat off the challenge of Belgium’s Thomas Detry to seal a one-stroke victory at the Forest of Arden in the West Midlands.

The 23-year-old became the first home winner of the Hero Open – formerly the English Open – since Lee Westwood in 1998.

Horsfield, a protege of Ian Poulter, became the fifth English winner in total and achieved something the Ryder Cup star has not achieved in 20 years on tour – a victory in England.

The win also moves Horsfield to the top of the UK Swing Rankings, from which the top 10 players at the conclusion of the ISPS Handa Wales Open will earn exemptions to next month’s US Open at Winged Foot.

Horsfield said: “It’s crazy, I can’t put it in to words.

“I made a bad bogey on 15, then on 17 we wanted to leave a good five-wood number and I did – 233, wind out to the left. Hit a great shot there.

“It’s special. With everything that’s going on in the world right now, I’m thankful that the European Tour has been able to put on tournaments for us to play.

“I’ve been in Orlando for the last three months and felt like my game was right there. I played decently last week, had a bad finish but kept the positives from that.

“I played solid all week and gave myself a lot of opportunities and made one enough,” said the player who has two 59s to his name already in his career – his first came aged 13.

Sam Horsfield had a six-shot lead at one point on Saturday – but showed nerves of steel during the final round with the chasing pack close on his tail. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Sam’s back nine fails to prove costly

HORSFIELD had endured a difficult back nine in his third round after giving an on-course interview to Sky Sports walking down the 10th fairway.

The former University of Florida player said he was able to go low by being aggressive.

After speaking to Tim Barter, who asked him about his 59 last month at Florida’s Streamsong, a par 73, Sam relinquished a six-shot lead he had built on the front nine, making a double bogey and giving up three more shots.

But the Englishman, who pulled of the Great Britain & Ireland team before the 2015 Walker Cup team, showed true determination on an exciting final day.

He maintained his one-shot overnight lead over the chasing pack for the vast part of the round.

Horsfield was knocked off the perch briefly when Detry birdied the 17th to move to the front on 18-under par.

But the Belgian missed a crucial par putt at the last from four feet to drop back to 17-under alongside the eventual winner.

Horsfield capitalised on his opportunity at the penultimate hole, playing the par-five to perfection.

The 2017 Qualifying School winner picked up a shot to earn a one-one stroke advantage stepping onto the tee of the par-three final hole.

A deft lag putt left him with an easy par putt to lift the trophy, after signing for a four-under par 68 – and an 18-under total.

Thomas Detry was briefly in the lead with two to play but dropped a shot on the last after making. a birdie on his penultimate hole. Picture by GETTY IMAGES.

Detry only sees positives from UK Swing

DETRY was only taking the positives after another near miss looking for his maiden win.

He said: “A lot of things have been going through my mind, but honestly I have nothing to be disappointed about right now.

“I played some really good golf. The greens are getting trickier down the stretch and I over-read that putt on 18.

“But I’m very pleased with the way I finished on those last few holes to be honest.

“I hit some very good shots out there. Another missed opportunity, but I’ll move on and forget about it – and just try to win next week.

“It was tough out there, the wind started to swirl a little bit and 16 and 17 are tough holes with a lot of water around.

“You have to be careful because you can quickly make a high number, but I handled it pretty well, like I said I’ll just move on.

“I’m feeling very positive about the rest of the UK Swing now.

“I’ve picked up a few points for the UK Swing Rankings so it will change a few things.

“I might not play every single tournament now but we’ll see how things go. But I’m definitely playing next week so I’m looking forward to that.”

Forest of Arden’s £50k from Golf for Good to give away

Horsfield, who left the UK to live in Florida at the age of five, moved from 43rd to 18th in the Race to Dubai Rankings.

His win concluded another successful week on the UK Swing for the European Tour’s Golf for Good initiative.

Forest of Arden received £50,000 from the tour to be distributed to charities of their choice – with Blood Cancer UK being awarded £20,000, and local charities Newlife and Birmingham Mind receiving £15,000 each.

•For the final scores in the Hero Open click here.

The post Sam Horsfield says Tour are real heroes after his maiden victory at Forest of Arden appeared first on Golf North.

Graeme McDowell claimed is 11th European Tour victory with a two-shot win over Dustin Johnson the defending champion in the Saudi International. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

GRAEME McDowell showed the kind of determination which helped GMac become a Major Champion as he claimed his first European Tour win in six years at the second Saudi International.

The Northern Irelander, who grew up playing links golf at Portrush, battled to a final round 70 to pick up a cheque for €529,337 – and a victory that propelled him back into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

McDowell, who won in the Dominican Republic on the PGA Tour last year – having languished as far down as 238th on the OWGR at the end of 2018 – finished on 12-under par at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.

That was two shots clear of defending champion Dustin Johnson, and good enought to claim his 11^th European Tour title – and first since the 2014 Open de France – a wait of 2,037 days.

An emotional McDowell, who is now ranked 47th in the world, said: “I didn’t realise it had been quite that long since I’d won here in Europe.

“I’m very excited. I’m very relieved. This is a difficult golf course,” said the former Rathmore Golf Club junior, who won six times in his final year at the University of Alabama, back in 2002.

The player known as GMac around the world added: “It’s unusual to win feeling as uncomfortable as I did on a lot of these holes because it was a tough golf course these last two days, especially with tough conditions.

“The birdies on 14 and 15 were just huge at the time, and it was nice to have a that little cushion coming down the last couple.

“My big goal this year was to be back in the Top 50 in the world, back competing in the big tournaments,” said McDowell, who was last guaranteed starts in the four Majors, back in 2015 at the US Open.

“I’m very excited that it’s happened a little faster than I expected, but hopefully it’s laying some foundations down for having a big year,” said the European player, who holed the winning putt in the 2010 Ryder Cup, at Celtic Manor.

“I really feel like I’m moving in the right direction, and it’s weeks like this that really give that you which I can additional effect and hopefully I can use it,” added McDowell, who was captured on TV calling his children as he walked to the scorer’s hut after holing the winning putt in Saudi.

“It’s been 10 years since I won a US Open, 10 years probably since I played the best golf of my life.

“I feel like I’m moving back in the right direction. I’ve got my head around what I’m trying to do with the swing and what I’m trying to do with the golf ball again, thanks to Kevin Kirk, who I started working with last August – and Pete Cowen, who has been by my side for many, many years.

“Kenny on the bag there – I have a solid team. Life’s settled down. I’ve got a great wife and great family.

“I’m very happy with what’s going on in my life right now. I feel like the pond, the ripples in the pond have kind of steadied out a little bit now, and I’m in a good place to play some good golf.”

And while McDowell admits wanting to impress his young children is a major motivation for his charge back up the world rankings, he acknowledged competing on Tour today takes even more than it did at his peak a decade ago.

Graeme, who began the week at 104th in the OWGR, said: “There’s so many great players in the world now.

“I’ve got young kids at home, and I want them to see me out there. I want to show them that dad’s tough. Dad can still do it.

“I didn’t want them to have to pull up YouTube videos,” said GMac.

“I’m really happy with the direction I’m moving with my game. Massive to have weeks like this.”

Graeme McDowell tees off on the 17th hole on his way to victory in the Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

GMac held off Dubuisson & Johnson

FORTY-year-old McDowell, who won the 2010 US Open, at Pebble Beach, held a one-shot overnight lead over his 2014 Ryder Cup partner Victor Dubuission going into Sunday’s final round.

But GMac bogeyed the opening hole, and after a scrappy front nine the pair reached the turn tied at the top of the leaderboard.

McDowell birdied the eight hole and bogeyed the ninth, while Dubuisson birdied the third and fifth, but dropped shots at the fourth and sixth.

Frenchman Dubuisson could not mount a challenge after the turn though, carding a four-over par back nine of 39 in his round of 74 – to finish tied sixth on seven-under.

Instead, the main threat came from inaugural Saudi International winner Johnson, who eagled the final hole for a round of 67 to post the clubhouse target of 10-under, while Belgian Thomas Pieters signed for a 65 and a nine-under total earlier, after missing eagle attempt on the last.

McDowell bounced back from a bogey on 13^th hole with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes.

The four-time Ryder Cup player took a two-shot lead down the last and despite leaving his third shot short of the green from a greenside bunker, he made par to claim a memorable victory.

He became the second Ryder Cup player in his 40s to win during the Middle East swing after Lee Westwood’s Rolex Series victory in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship two weeks ago.

And thankfully, the controversy of Friday’s second round, when GMac was given a formal slow play warning after taking part in an on-course interview with Sky Sports’ Tim Barter – a second slow time would have cost him an automatic one-shot penalty under the European Tour’s new policy – did not come back to haunt him over the weekend.

Johnson finished runner-up while Pieters shared third place with five-time Major champion Phil Mickelson, who closed with a 67 and Malaysia’s Gavin Green, who had been second with 36 holes to play, having shared the first-round lead with McDowell.

Johnson rues problems putting in the wind

DUSTIN Johnson’s recovery from his knee surgery last summer continued in the Middle East.

But the former World No. 1 admitted he could have pushed GMac harder in his defence of the Saudi crown.

Johnson, who won the US Open in 2016, said: “It was another day where it could have been a lot better. I’m happy with the way I’m playing.

“It was difficult to putt, though. It was really hard to make putts. I hit a lot of really good shots, and really good chances for birdie.

“You know, when you’ve got a left-to-right slope and you’re playing it outside the right, it’s tough.

“I was still missing them left. It was just hard to judge how much the wind was actually going to move the ball.

“I’m pleased with the way I played, but I would have liked to give Graeme a little more pressure coming down the stretch.

“I had some really good chances. I missed a real short one on 13, a close one on 14, 15, and 17.

“I had all the chances, but I did finally make a nice putt on 18 to finish.”

•For full results at the Saudi International click here.

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