Hovland takes Norway’s first European Tour title

Viktor Hovland became the first Norwegian winner in European Tour history as he finished two strokes ahead of former World Number One Martin Kaymer to win the BMW International Open.

The 23-year-old started the day with a three-stroke lead, but Kaymer, the winner of the BMW International Open in 2008, made a final day charge at Golfclub München Eichenried with an eight-under 64 to set the clubhouse target at seventeen-under-par.
Hovland led by two after his third birdie of the day on the 16th, but a dropped shot on the 17th set up a tense finish on the formidable par five 18th hole. However, the Ryder Cup hopeful found the fairway with his tee shot and then the green with a superb three wood, setting up three putts for the victory.
He required just two as he tapped in for birdie and a 19 under par total for his maiden European Tour title, his third worldwide victory since turning professional in 2019.

“That was a long day. Sleeping on the lead you start thinking about winning, but there’s a lot of things that can happen. I didn’t really play very good today, but with nice six-seven holes, it was good enough and I’m happy to be sitting here with the trophy," said Hovland.
“I saw (Martin) was climbing the leaderboard pretty quickly and I saw he was at 16 under for a while. I was at 17 for a while but I knew he had 18 left and was probably going to make a birdie. I couldn’t just make pars in and play simple golf. I still had to get after it and make a couple of birdies. My strategy didn’t change much at all. I still decided to go for it on 16 and still decided to hit it on the green on 18. I knew I had to close this thing out, I couldn’t just roll over."
Spaniard Jorge Campillo carded a one-under-par round to finish third on fifteen-under, while 2014 Ryder Cup player Victor Dubuisson recorded his best European Tour result since November 2017 as he finished fourth.