Sam Torrance: Thorbjorn Olesen is back on the up after extraordinary British Masters win
From his opening tee shot at The British Masters on Sunday, overnight leader Thorbjorn Olesen struggled to keep his ball on the course.
He bogeyed the first, dropped further shots at the sixth, ninth, 14th and 15th holes, and on another day his scoring might have been even worse.
I felt for the Dane, who had not won since 2018, but I could not have imagined what Olesen would do next.
His miserable form continued until the 17th, where he began hitting perfect shots.
Just as he had in Saturday’s third round he made an eagle, this time with a putt from 28 feet. He followed that with a birdie from 35 feet at the last to end his drought in extraordinary style.
Olesen’s performance was testament to the resilience of the human spirit. No matter how badly he was playing he didn’t stop fighting and trying to hit the right shot each time.
This was a huge win for the 32-year-old, who was part of Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning team four years ago but had fallen out of the world’s top 500 since then.
I remember him winning the Italian Open in 2018, beating Francesco Molinari when the latter was approaching the peak of his Open Championship-winning form.
I was really impressed by him then. He is extremely fit, works hard and I’ve always liked his swing. It wasn’t there on Sunday at The Belfry but his delightful putting stroke did the job.
Olesen is now back up in the top 200 of the rankings. It’s still some way short of his career-high No33 but I fully expect him to keep climbing.
I felt a little sorry for Sebastian Soderberg, who had set the target of nine under par and looked to be on for his second win on the DP World Tour, but it wasn’t to be.
Richie Ramsay played beautifully all day – up until finding the water at 18 and making a costly double bogey. If he could just have made par instead he would have finished on 10 under, Olesen’s winning score, and it might have been a different story.
Fellow Scot Connor Syme also had a good week, sharing third with Ramsay.
Homa eyes top 10
On the PGA Tour, Max Homa emerged as the winner in a rain-lashed Wells Fargo Championship that saw England’s Matt Fitzpatrick shine to share second place.
Former world No1 Jason Day looked to be on course to win for the first time in four years until shooting a 79 on Saturday.
Then Major winner Keegan Bradley took a two-shot lead into the final round, only to double bogey the second hole.
Homa began with a birdie and made four more in a round of 68 that proved enough for a two-shot win, his second at this event.
The 31-year-old turned pro in 2013 and has experienced the highs and lows of life on the PGA Tour, losing his card twice but returning the following year on both occasions.
He has shown a lot of inner strength, has a good swing and this was a great win for him. He only entered the top 50 last year but is now targeting the top 10. Who knows how high he can go?
Sam Torrance OBE is a former Ryder Cup-winning captain and one of Europe’s most successful golfers. Follow him @torrancesam