Sam Horsfield holds on to take Hero Open title

England’s Sam Horsfield held his nerve to claim a maiden European Tour title in the Hero Open at the Forest of Arden.

Horsfield took a one-shot lead into the final round and carded a closing 68 to finish 18 under par, a shot ahead of Belgium’s Thomas Detry.

Detry had recorded his ninth birdie of the day on the 17th to move into the lead for the first time, only to bogey the last after seeing his par putt from three feet catch the edge of the cup and stay out.

That left Horsfield needing to play the last two holes in one under par and he did not hesitate to take on the approach to the par-five 17th, a towering

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fairway wood from 238 yards over the water setting up a two-putt birdie from just over the green.

A cautious tee shot on the last left the 23-year-old around 50 feet from the

hole, but he safely two-putted for par to complete a closing 68 and one-shot

victory.

“It’s crazy. I can’t (describe my emotions),” Horsfield told Sky Sports. “On 17 we wanted to leave a good number and I hit a great shot there.”

Cormac Sharvin – the only player of the Irish contingent to make the cut – signed for a one over par round of 73 after four bogeys and three birdies left him in a tie for 47th at five under.

England’s Chris Paisley, Welshman Oliver Farr and Sweden’s Alexander Bjork shared third place on 14 under par.

Collated final scores & totals in the European Tour Hero Open, Marriott Forest of Arden Hotel & Country Club, Birmingham (British unless stated, par 72):

270 Sam Horsfield 68 63 71 68

271 Thomas Detry (Bel) 67 67 71 66

274 Alexander Bjork (Swe) 68 67 70 69, Chris Paisley 70 68 66 70, Oliver Farr 65 71 67 71

275 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 71 69 67 68, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 69 67 69 70, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 67 69 67 72, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 66 71 66 72

277 Laurie Canter 67 72 68 70, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spa) 62 69 73 73, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 68 67 70 72, Aaron Rai 71 68 70 68, Scott Jamieson 71 71 70 65

278 Marcus Armitage 72 68 67 71, Robert Rock 71 69 66 72, Jamie Donaldson 72 68 68 70, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 70 72 68 68, Dave Coupland 68 72 71 67, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 71 71 68, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 75 66 70

279 Richard Bland 70 68 67 74, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 70 68 68 73, Richie Ramsay 69 68 74 68, Ross Fisher 70 71 67 71, Garrick Porteous 70 72 72 65, Matthew Southgate 67 74 69 69

280 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 68 71 66 75, Joel Stalter (Fra) 67 71 71 71, Callum Shinkwin 68 69 72 71, Ashley Chesters 66 72 71 71, Johannes Veerman (USA) 75 66 72 67, Renato Paratore (Ita) 70 70 69 71

281 Wil Besseling (Ned) 67 70 73 71, Ben Stow 70 71 71 69, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 68 69 72 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 64 72 73 72, David Horsey 71 71 72 67, Grant Forrest 69 68 72 72, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 69 70 66 76

282 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71 74 67, Andy Sullivan 70 70 68 74, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 70 72 64 76, Clement Sordet (Fra) 69 72 72 69, Benjamin Poke (Den) 72 70 69 71, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 68 71 71 72

283 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 69 69 71 74, Sihwan Kim (Kor) 67 71 72 73, Cormac Sharvin (NIrl) 70 67 73 73, Alexander Levy (Fra) 67 69 74 73

284 Ben Evans 72 70 71 71, Darius Van Driel (Ned) 69 71 74 70, Dale Whitnell 69 72 76 67, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 74 66 69 75, John Catlin (USA) 71 70 72 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 64 75 70 75

285 Rhys Enoch 68 72 70 75, Richard McEvoy 69 72 72 72, Ricardo Santos (Por) 70 69 71 75, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 72 72 72, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 73 67 72 73, Lee Slattery 70 71 72 72

286 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 71 75 70, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 69 69 76 72

287 Steven Brown 71 71 71 74, Steven Tiley 72 67 75 73

288 Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 72 70 73 73

289 Connor Syme 67 75 74 73

290 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 71 70 78

292 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 71 73 77

293 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 73 68 68 84