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Pádraig Harrington lit up the back nine at Vilamoura to move himself into position to nab a spot in the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship with a closing 67 to for a tie for 12th at the Portugal Masters where Thomas Pieters got back to winning ways.
Harrington’s total of 10 under par moves him up 10 spots to 58th in the Race to Dubai rankings with the top-50 after next week’s Dubai Championship qualifying for the end of season bonanza which also takes place in Dubai a week later.
Harrington got his round underway with a birdie at the fifth on Sunday but then suffered a double bogey six at the Par 4 seventh to drop back. However, the Dubliner really got it moving on the back nine with a birdie at the 11th, an eagle at the 12th and two more birdies at the 15th and 17th.
A closing 68 was enough to give Jonathan Caldwell a tie for 26th at seven under par but the Clandeboyne man looks like he will miss out on the Tour Championship as he currently sits 98th in the Race to Dubai.
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In the end it was the former Ryder Cup star Pieters who held his nerve on a chaotic afternoon to card a closing 68 and take the title.
The Belgian started the final day sharing a four-shot lead with Matthieu Pavon but found himself two back with seven holes to play as the Frenchman looked serene in search of a first European Tour win.
It was all change on the Par 5 12th, however, as Pavon put two balls in the water en route to a triple-bogey, with Pieters making a birdie in a four-shot swing that handed him a two-shot advantage.
Pieters found water himself on the 14th and there was a three-way tie at the top in the closing stages, but Dane Nicolai Hojgaard — who surged up the leaderboard with a closing 64 — bogeyed the last and Pavon dropped a shot on the Par 5 17th after finding more water.
With some of the pressure relieved after seeing his playing partner’s error, Pieters put a five-iron to 20 feet on the penultimate hole and a two-putt birdie was followed by a par up the last as he finished at 19 under, two shots clear of Pavon, Hojgaard and another Dane in Lucas Bjerregaard.
Pieters won the final qualifying event for the 2016 Ryder Cup in Denmark to help earn himself a wild card and repaid captain Darren Clarke’s faith by claiming four points for Europe in a losing effort.
He had won just once since at the 2019 Czech Masters but his fifth European Tour victory means he will qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
“It does (feel like a long time),” he said. “Two years is a long time. I’ve had a child in the meantime, who talks and runs around, it does feel like a long time.
“I was going into this week and next week with my back to the wall. I had nothing to lose but everything to gain.
“I’ve never missed the end of the Race to Dubai and really didn’t want to miss it. I didn’t care if I finished first, second or third. I just wanted to get there, but winning is amazing.”
Pavon finished his week with a 70, while Bjerregaard carded a 66.
Portugal Masters final leaderboard (Irish unless stated, Par 71)
265 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 68 64 65 68
267 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 67 69 67 64, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 65 69 66, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 68 64 65 70
271 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 61 69 74 67, Matthew Jordan 70 68 67 66
272 Francesco Laporta (Ita) 70 66 69 67
273 Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 68 68 71 66, Richard Bland 70 65 69 69, Victor Perez (Fra) 72 68 68 65, Adria Arnaus (Spa) 65 67 73 68
274 Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 69 67 66 72, Sam Horsfield 68 66 69 71, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 67 72 68 67, Oliver Wilson 68 67 70 69, David Horsey 70 68 69 67
275 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 69 67 70 69, Callum Shinkwin 67 66 71 71, Gavin Green (Mal) 66 69 70 70, Sean Crocker (USA) 70 67 70 68, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 67 70 69
276 Grant Forrest 68 67 71 70, John Catlin (USA) 70 70 71 65, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 69 68 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 69 68 67
277 Jonathan Caldwell (NIrl) 69 71 69 68, Romain Langasque (Fra) 71 68 69 69, Pep Angles (Spa) 68 69 72 68, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 70 70 66
278 Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 71 66 71 70, Ross Fisher 71 67 70 70
279 Chris Wood 71 69 69 70, Stephen Gallacher 69 68 73 69, Jack Senior 71 67 69 72, Ricardo Santos (Por) 70 69 71 69
280 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 71 72 67, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 69 73 69, Marcus Armitage 68 69 76 67, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 70 69 72 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 70 71 72 67
281 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 72 69 71 69, Jordan Smith 72 67 74 68
282 Wil Besseling (Ned) 68 74 72 68, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 72 68 69 73, Steven Brown 68 71 72 71, Richie Ramsay 70 69 70 73
284 Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 67 71 74 72, Andrew Johnston 72 68 77 67
285 Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 72 70 74 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 72 71 73
286 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 72 72 72, Jamie Donaldson 73 67 73 73
287 Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 69 74 73
288 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 73 76 70, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 74 76 70, Andy Sullivan 70 71 70 77, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 68 72 74 74, Scott Jamieson 71 71 72 74
289 George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 71 73 75, David Law 68 74 74 73
290 Vitor Lopes (Por) 71 69 76 74
291 Tomas Gouveia (Por) 71 69 76 75
292 Ashley Chesters 75 66 77 74
296 Robert MacIntyre 70 70 74 82
299 Marc Warren 74 67 77 81
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