AR
Hamish Brown produced a stunning birdie blitz on the final day of the Kaskáda Golf Challenge to secure a maiden Challenge Tour title in Brno.
The Dane was in imperious form on the final day, carding nine birdies and a solitary bogey on his way to an eight under par round of 63 to reach 18 under par for the week, two strokes clear of overnight leader Robin Williams.
The 25-year-old becomes the third winner on the 2024 Road to Mallorca from Denmark, joining two-time winner Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Jonathan Gøth-Rasmussen in the winner’s circle, and he was delighted with how he played from start to finish on an enthralling final day.
View this post on Instagram
“It was a day when everything came off like I wanted it to,” he said. “My wedges and putting really made my score today.
“It’s been a funny day, but a good day. I hit one bad shot at the first hole and got a bit lucky with making my fourth shot, but after that I didn’t really put a foot wrong.
“I was watching the scores a lot. I can’t really look away from leaderboards, I always do it.
“I said last night that somebody is probably going to shoot ten under par following the rain we had last night which made the course softer today and a bit more scoreable. I didn’t think I was going to get near it, but I’m pretty happy with what I did do.”
Brown started the day four shots behind South African Williams but got off to the perfect start by birdieing three of his opening four holes to close the gap.
The Dane would then move into the lead for the first time after firing four more birdies in a five hole stretch around the turn to distance himself from what had been a congested leaderboard.
Despite a bogey on hole 14, Brown responded with an eighth gain of the day at hole 15 before taking a two shot lead down the last after making a final birdie at the 17th.
Brown climbs from 31st to fifth in the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings with a win to boost his chances of promotion to the DP World Tour, but admits he isn’t getting carried away despite the result this week.
“I don’t think this win changes too much,” he added. “We’re still only around midway through the season, so there’s a lot of golf to be played and I’ve got nowhere near enough points to secure promotion.
“It’s nice, it’s what you want, but it’s more like a confident boost for the next few weeks. I’m going to keep going because it’s not over until it’s over.”
German Jannik de Bruyn finished three shots off the lead in third place, with Dane Lucas Bjerregaard and Englishman Ben Schmidt finishing in a share of fourth place on 14 under par.
Finn Tapio Pulkkanen and Irishman Conor Purcell finished one shot further back on 13 under par in sixth.
The top four places on the Road to Mallorca Rankings remain the same, with Neergaard-Petersen in pole position on 1,043 points. Brown climbs 26 places to fifth on 532 points, with Williams up 17 spots to sixth on 488 points. Purcell’s sixth place finish sees him move up to 20th, the final promotion place.
The Road to Mallorca continues next week with the Blot Open de Bretagne taking place at Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André from June 20-23.
Main Image: Getty Images
