24 October 2021

Jeff Winther claims maiden European Tour title with Mallorca victory

24 October 2021

Denmark’s Jeff Winther claimed his first European Tour title with a hard-fought victory in the Mallorca Golf Open.

A level-par final round of 70 at Santa Ponsa was enough to give Winther a one-shot victory over Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg and home favourites Pep Angles and Jorge Campillo.

Soderberg, who also finished runner-up in the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama seven days ago, held a share of the lead after 12 holes but bogeyed the 13th and 15th.

Winther took a two-shot lead into the final day following his second 62 of the week on Saturday, but despite saving par on the third with a left-handed shot from the base of a tree, his advantage was quickly erased.

Soderberg birdied the second, third and seventh to join Winther at the top of the leaderboard before the 33-year-old Dane made what would be his only birdie of the day on the 10th to reclaim the lead.

A birdie on the 11th saw Soderberg draw alongside his playing partner once more, only for the Swede to three putt the 13th and then fail to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the 15th.

That gave Winther some welcome breathing space and he had the luxury of dropping his only shot of the weekend on the 18th before celebrating with his wife and children on the green.

“I don’t know what to say right now,” Winther told Sky Sports. “I’m very pleased to see both of my kids here and my friends. It’s fantastic. I’m overwhelmed.

“I don’t know how we’re going to celebrate. We’ve got a flight home tomorrow at 10 but tonight’s going to be great I think.”

Winther paid tribute to the calming influence of his caddie, adding: “I think Stretch (Ian More) was doing a great job of making me think of all other stuff than golf. So many thanks to him.”

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