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Scott Hend has won the European Legends Cup, hosted by José María Olazábal, by two shots after holding off the challenge of Adilson Da Silva and Stephen Gallacher at Basozábal in Northern Spain on the Legends Tour.
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The Australian’s final-round 67 and -16 total was good enough for a third Legends Tour title and a commanding lead in the 2025 Order of Merit.
“It feels great to win – every win is a great thing,” said Hend, who claimed victory at the Barbados Legends, hosted by Ian Woosnam, earlier in the year.
“At the start of the day I had in my mind that if I went out and shot four-under then it would be very hard for the guys behind to catch me. I felt I was playing pretty boring golf out there, not going for many pins, just trying to make lots of pars. Credit to Alan, my caddie – we had a game plan out there and we stuck to it.
“I flushed it down the first and knew that Adi was three behind me – so I knew that if I could shoot four-under he would have to play exceptionally well to catch me. It was nice to birdie 15, 16 and 17 to put a bit of space between him and myself.
“It was a really good stretch there and I said to Alan that I’ve never been able to walk down 18 with a four-shot lead, so that was nice to do.”
Brazilian Da Silva, who won this event 12 months ago, birdied the last to card a bogey-free 66, close to within two and secure second place, but once Hend had rattled off three birdies in a row in the middle of the back nine the result was never really in doubt.
Scotland’s Gallacher – the only player in the field to card three rounds in the 60s – eagled the fifth and added further birdies at the 6th, 8th, 10th and 13th to get to -12. But the 2014 Ryder Cup player was unable to find the putts needed to apply more pressure to Hend and had to settle for third place as he seeks a maiden Legends Tour win in his first season.
Tournament host, José María Olazábal, who despite carrying a shoulder injury that at one stage threatened his participation in the event, finished T15 after shooting 68-68 over the weekend.
The man himself was delighted with both his day’s work and the week as a whole. “It wasn’t pretty, but I fought hard and managed to put together a solid round. There were not many putts because I didn’t play well and missed a lot of greens, but in the end I got through the round without making a single bogey.
“What I’m most happy and satisfied about is that we’ve been able to bring a tournament of this calibre to Gipuzkoa, to Basozábal in this case. There’s been a huge effort from so many people, and everyone has been pleasantly surprised by the course and how everything has gone. So I’m very satisfied.”
The Legends Tour now moves on to Germany in two weeks’ time for the WINSTONgolf Senior Open near Hamburg. Van Phillips won the event in 2024, beating Adilson da Silva and Phillip Archer in a play-off.
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