Sebastian Friedrichsen fired a stunning final round nine under par 62 to win the Open de Portugal and secure his maiden HotelPlanner Tour title by three strokes.
The 23-year-old made six back-nine birdies, including four consecutively, to reach an incredible 28 under par total and charge away from overnight leader and eventual runner-up Marc Warren.
Friedrichsen was delighted that he was able to take his chance to get over the line for his first title on the Road to Mallorca.
“It feels great,” he said. “I’ve been playing out here for a while, so it feels amazing to finally get it over the line. I’m very happy.
“Obviously I knew where we were standing before I teed off, and I kind of knew all the way so I knew what was going on and we had a good battle out there.”
Despite playing as the second easiest hole all week, Friedrichsen wasn’t able to take advantage of the par five opening hole, leaving him four shots adrift of playing partner Warren.
But the Dane responded perfectly, making birdie on two and three before picking up one more gain on the opening nine.
The maiden winner picked up consecutive birdies again on 11 and 12, but it was his crucial birdie two on the par three 14th that ignited a late run of four on the trot to cruise away from the chasing pack.
“I didn’t hit my wedges and irons as good today as the other rounds. On that little hole [14] it was in-between clubs, but it’s always best for me to take the longer club and hit it shorter. I did that and it almost went in.
“It’s a weird game right. I feel like the game has been trending the last few weeks, but it hadn’t really clicked at all.
“This week was my week and it’s nice when it happens, but I’ve just been trying to stay patient and I kind of had an idea something nice was going to happen.”
The three-stroke victory sees Friedrichsen move up 27 spots into the top ten in the Road to Mallorca Rankings and he was pleased to have found his form at such an important part of the season.
“It’s a great time to start playing well and making results. The top 15 has been the goal all year so now I’m in a better position than I was before this week, but I’ll try and go to the last tournaments the same as if I hadn’t won this week.”
Julien Sale tied the low round of the week with a final round 61 to take solo third at 24 under par, with Matthew Southgate and MJ Daffue rounding out the top five a shot further back.
The Road to Mallorca now takes a week off before heading to the United Arab Emirates for the Abu Dhabi Challenge, taking place from September 30 to October 3.
