Niall Kearney moved closer to earning a full European Tour card for next season with a final round of 71 to finish tied for 12th at the Dutch Open.
The Dubliner moves up to 122nd in the Race to Dubai rankings with the top 126 at the end of the season earning European Tour membership for next year. With five events to go before the cut-off, Kearney currently sits inside the all-important number ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship which begins on September 30th.
After taking an eight-shot lead into the final round at Bernardus Golf Club in Cromvoirt, Kristoffer Broberg gave the chasing pack a chance with three bogeys in his first 14 holes on Sunday but ultimately the Swede did enough to win thanks to a final round of 72 for a total of 23 under and a three shot victory over Matthias Schmid.
For Royal Dublin pro Kearney the day began with a bogey at the second before he recovered with a birdie at the sixth and then went on to eagle the 12th. A top-10 finish was looking likely for the 33-year-old after another birdie at the 16th but bogeys at the 17th and 18th saw him slip back to finish at 12 under par, earning him a cheque for €17,531.
Graeme McDowell finished with a round of 72 for nine under par and a tie for 22nd. McDowell will now head to Whistling Straits where he is one of Pádraig Harrington’s vice-captains at the Ryder Cup. After making his first cut on the European Tour as a pro, Corkman James Sugrue finished with a 72 for a total of one over par and a 73rd place finish.
After his first victory in six years since the BMW International in 2015, Broberg struggled to hold back his emotions after what he described as “six years of hell” with hip and knee injuries contributing to him playing just 11 events between 2018 and 2020.
After making a par at the last to finish the tournament on 23 under par, Broberg told Sky Sports: “It means a lot. Six years of hell. I’m happy right now but the game wasn’t there today. I was struggling all day.”
After seeing his lead reduced to four shots after the front nine, a birdie for Broberg at the 10th was followed by a valuable par save on the 11th but he put himself in danger of undoing all that hard work when he got into tree trouble at the 12th and decided against taking the safe option.
His gamble did not pay off as he hit a tuft of grass and watched his ball go backwards before settling in a bush. He had to take a penalty drop from there and was now staring a big score, and a huge swing at the top of the leaderboard, in the face.
But after chipping to the rough next to a greenside bunker, Broberg holed his pitch to only drop one shot. And with Schmid narrowly missing his eagle putt at the same hole, the German only closed to within two shots when it could have been a lot worse for Broberg.
After watching Schmid make a double bogey at the 13th, Broberg put his tee shot at the 14th into the water to drop another shot.
But he avoided further damage with a great save from the sand at the 15th before birdieing the 17th to move three clear once more. And a par at the last was good enough to clinch the trophy.
Final scores from the Dutch Open (British unless stated, Par 72)
265 Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 68 64 61 72
268 Matthias Schmid (Ger) 68 69 65 66
270 Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 68 67 67 68
273 Thomas Detry (Bel) 67 66 70 70, Darius van Driel (Ned) 72 66 66 69
274 Richard Mansell 71 64 67 72, Johannes Veerman (USA) 70 67 68 69, Ricardo Santos (Por) 67 71 68 68
275 Justin Harding (Rsa) 68 68 73 66, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 69 71 68 67, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 71 68 67 69
276 Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 68 67 69, Marcus Helligkilde (Den) 67 66 68 75, Niall Kearney (Irl) 65 69 71 71
277 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 72 68 69 68, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 66 68 72 71, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 70 68 68 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 68 69 71 69
278 David Horsey 68 70 70 70, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 67 71 69 71, Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 68 67 72 71
279 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 71 68 70 70, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 69 68 73, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 66 70 72, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 68 72 69 70, Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 69 69 69 72
280 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 66 74 70, Sven Maurits (Ned) 68 69 73 70, David Drysdale 72 65 73 70, Robin Roussel (Fra) 70 70 68 72, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 73 67 71 69
281 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 68 73 72 68, Chris Wood 69 69 74 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 69 68 74, Jack Senior 73 67 69 72, Clement Sordet (Fra) 70 71 71 69, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 71 69 71
282 David Law 72 69 68 73, Rowin Caron (Ned) 71 69 71 71, Philip Bootsma (Ned) 69 70 71 72, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 71 67 73 71, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 72 69 70 71, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 75 67 67 73, Lee Slattery 71 71 71 69, Emilio Cuartero (Spa) 73 68 71 70, Euan Walker 67 72 75 68
283 Steven Brown 70 71 71 71, Benjamin Poke (Den) 72 66 71 74, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 69 72 69 73
284 George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 72 71 72, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 70 70 69 75, Mike Toorop (Ned) 70 70 72 72, Ben Stow 71 67 72 74, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 69 70 69 76, Ben Evans 67 74 69 74, Martin Leth Simonsen (Den) 66 70 79 69, Berry Henson (USA) 69 70 71 74
285 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 69 70 73 73, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 73 68 74 70, Max Schmitt (Ger) 69 73 70 73, Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 70 71 73 71
286 Oliver Farr 71 71 71 73, Santiago Tarrio (Spa) 67 73 74 72
287 Sam Horsfield 67 71 75 74, Cormac Sharvin 73 69 72 73, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 70 72 73 72, Chase Hanna (USA) 70 72 70 75, Angus Flanagan 71 71 68 77
288 Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 72 70 71 75, Daan Huizing (Ned) 71 68 71 78, Rhys Enoch 67 73 76 72, Jordan Wrisdale 70 70 72 76
289 James Sugrue (Irl) 74 67 76 72
290 Nordin van Tilburg (Ned) 71 70 73 76
291 Matt Ford 70 72 75 74
297 Koen Kouwenaar (Ned) 73 69 77 78
299 Shiv Chawrasia (Ind) 75 67 82 75
