For a brief Sunday afternoon spell, Thorbjorn Olesen must have contemplated a horror scenario. The seven-shot lead as held by the Dane before the final round of the Turkish Airlines Open had been whittled down to one by the marauding David Horsey. One of the great golfing capitulations of our time was very much on the cards.
The mettle of champions is tested in such situations. Olesen duly made an impressive up-and-down from the greenside bunker at the 12th, thereby restoring his advantage to two.
The outcome of this event was never truly in doubt from there, Olesen claiming the biggest win of his career by three from Horsey and Li Haotong. A fourth round of 69, two under par, meant Olesen took the trophy at minus 20.
“This means a lot,” Olesen said. “It has been a bad spell for me, the last three or four months. I played well at the start of the season and felt like I had a good chance to actually make the Ryder Cup team. In the summer there, I just got into a bad spell and played badly in the big events.
“Coming back here and then winning such a big tournament is huge. I feel like my game is good enough to compete in all the biggest tournaments.”
Olesen has now won European Tour events in four of the past five seasons. The 26-year-old’s latest victory earns him £950,000 but more intriguing will be what happens next. Olesen was known as a rising star of European golf when finishing sixth in the Masters of 2013, his debut at Augusta National, amid which he earned praise from Tiger Woods.
Olesen’s failure to properly build on that can be explained in part by injury but he was always highly thought of, as demonstrated by the European Ryder Cup team taking him to Hazeltine in September for a close-up watching brief. The fact that Olesen’s compatriot Thomas Bjorn is odds-on to captain Europe in Paris next time around only adds to already obvious incentive levels.
“It was difficult to be there when you know you’ve been really close to actually making the team but I tried to learn as much as possible and take it as an experience,” Olesen explained. “It gave me a lot of motivation, definitely, to make it in two years’ time but also it gave me motivation to just go home and work harder and try to win more tournaments and try to play better golf.
“It’s so special, the Ryder Cup. It’s a totally different event and the atmosphere there is unique. As a golfer, that’s where you want to be and it’s so different from TV. It was great for me to actually be there and see it, to stand on the first tee and get that experience and I think if I’m there in two years’ time, I’ll be more prepared.”
Horsey was not too downbeat. A cheque for £496,000 after a fine closing round of 65 probably helped his attitude. “I take a lot of confidence because that’s probably as relaxed as I’ve ever felt playing in contention,” said the 31-year-old from Stockport. “If I can just tidy up in a few areas, there’s no reason why I can’t continue contending in the near future.”
Bernd Wiesberger took fourth on his own at 15 under, a shot clear of the first- round leader, George Coetzee. Tyrrell Hatton’s excellent 2016 continued with a share of 10th.
Danny Willett’s dejection at failing to make a proper dent in Henrik Stenson’s European order of merit lead was apparent as he stepped from the course after posting a 75. Willett’s share of 68th earned him less than €10,000, leaving Stenson firmly in the driving seat going into the season-ending events in Sun City and Dubai.
Willett even contemplated not appearing in South Africa. “I’m not having much fun playing golf at the moment,” said the Masters champion. After a brief spell of calm reflection, it seemed Willett will indeed tee up on Thursday.
One feels, nonetheless, that the end of a year that delivered such epic glory to Willett cannot now come quickly enough.
Ewan Murray travelled courtesy of Turkish Airlines
