Thorbjorn Olesen produces stunning eagle-birdie finish to win British Masters

Thorbjorn Olesen won the Betfred British Masters in barely believable fashion with a stunning eagle-birdie finish for the second day running at The Belfry.

Olesen took a three-shot lead into the final round but struggled with a hook all day and was four over par after 16 holes.

With Sebastian Soderberg in the clubhouse on nine under, Olesen needed to play the last two holes in two under just to force a play-off, but went one better by holing from 28 feet for an eagle on the par-five 17th and 35 feet across the green on the last.

Olesen was understandably almost at a loss for words after securing his first win since 2018, just six months after he was cleared of sexually assaulting a woman on a British Airways flight in July 2019.

The 32-year-old claimed he turned into an “automaton” and was not in control of his body after drinking and taking prescription-only sleeping pills before a flight from Nashville to London, following a tournament in Memphis.

Olesen was ranked 62nd in the world at the time of the incident but began the week 376th and had admitted on Saturday evening he would feel the nerves of attempting to claim his sixth DP World Tour title.

“It’s a massive tournament won by so many great names so it’s a privilege to have my name on the trophy,” Olesen said.

“It was obviously a pretty tough day and hit a lot of shots to the left. I was really struggling. I somehow just kept going, and yeah, what a finish. Incredible.

“Standing on 17, I’m thinking I can make birdie, birdie and maybe get into a play-off. But obviously when I got the chance on 17, I prefer to take that. 18 is a tough hole, so par is a good score obviously. I just gave it everything.”

Richie Ramsay had earlier looked set for victory when he birdied the 17th to reach 10 under, only for the 38-year-old Scot to find the water in front of the green with his approach to the 18th and run up a costly double bogey.