2026 Soudal Open
Venue: Rinkven International GC, Antwerp, Belgium
2025 Champion: Kristoffer Reitan (NOR)
Prize Fund: USD $2,750,000
Race to Dubai: Tournament 20 of 42
European Swing: Tournament 2 of 6
Race to Dubai Points: 3,500
Final report
Richard Sterne played one of the shots of his life to claim his first DP World Tour title in 13 years at the 2026 Soudal Open.
Trailing countryman Zander Lombard for most of the day, the South African timed his attack to perfection, making a stunning eagle at the 17th hole to move to 18 under par and go atop of a stacked leaderboard at Rinkven International Golf Club.
The challenge was too much to ask for the chasing pack, with the 44-year-old’s round of 66 enough to register his first win since the 2013 Joburg Open some 4,851 days ago.
The now seven-time DP World Tour winner has overcome his fair share of injuries in the years since, undergoing three wrist operations, a disc replacement and hip surgery, with his story one of resilience and perseverance.
Sterne’s win marks the sixth by a South African on the 2026 Race to Dubai, following two each for Jayden Schaper and Casey Jarvis and Yurav Premlall’s success at the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship.
Marcus Kinhult led a large group to finish in a share of second at 16 under, the Swede holing a long putt at the last for his seventh birdie in a bogey-free 64.
Englishman Marcus Armitage signed for a 66 to join him, as did Frenchman Victor Perez, while Kota Kaneko, Jorge Campillo and Jacob Skov Olesen rounded out those two shots behind the winner.
Lombard and compatriot MJ Daffue were a further shot back, alongside Ben Schmidt, Nathan Kimsey and Gregorio De Leo at 15 under par.
Amateur Anthony De Schutter finished the week as the leading Belgian at nine under, achieving his goal afront of an incredible home crowd.
Player quotes
Richard Sterne: It’s been a tough ride. A lot of injuries, a lot of hard things that I’ve gone through but to get back in the winner’s circle is… quite unexpected today, to be honest. I thought I was one behind playing the last but then got on to the 18th green and had a quick look at the board and was quite surprised.
They were hard times, I didn’t think I was going to get through a lot of them. Three wrist ops, a disc replacement, hip surgery, I’ve been through it all so I’m pretty happy. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and trying to figure things out. It’s been tough – it’s been very tough, to be honest, the last couple of years – but there’s been some signs of good things and clearly to get a win I needed to play really decently.
I thought I was still behind (on 17), I thought Zander was still on 19 (under) – I wasn’t really looking at boards, to be honest. It was a long way for me, I had a five wood in the bag, I don’t have a three wood, it was 276 and I needed to hit a little draw on there to get the distance. It just came out as good as I could, it ended up great – three, four feet away – and yeah, it was one of the best shots I’ve hit.
One of the main goals was to win with my children actually seeing it. The oldest is 13 soon, so it’s been pretty much that long so it’s nice to eventually let them see me win, which is the main driver. Then I suppose just to prove to myself that I can still compete at this age, after all I’ve been through. I’ve had a lot of injuries; I’ve probably been out six or seven years with injuries. I’ve been out here 24 years I think, but with those injuries it’s only been 16, 17 years. Having that time off kind of made me realise that I still wanted to give it a go. I worked very hard in the gym to get my body back and be able to get through what I was going through, there were tough times but here I am.
It’s great to see the young guys coming through, there are some exceptional players, I think they’re going to be quite dominant going forward. But just to keep them a little bit on their toes, it’s nice to do that.
Zander Lombard: There are no words for that emotion, but I’m disappointed in myself. I thought I handled it really well. I hit a really good drive on 13 that just caught the edge of the water, and I kind of still fought my way through it. It stuck up against the lip on 14, and I couldn’t do anything with it, and I just compound it with a mistake there. I stayed in it, I tried my best, it just wasn’t good enough today.
I’ve achieved what I came out to do, and that’s be in contention – feel those feelings of fighting for it, and what it’s worth playing for. All in all, I think on reflection, it’s still a good week. It’s still points on the board, and that’s what, with my category this year, matters. So, lots of points for this week, and take it to next week.
I’m doing a lot right, and I’m contending again, and it’s a lovely place to be, and hopefully I can take this form into the rest of the season. I’m feeling good and I feel like a win is right around the corner. I’m not going to take this too harshly, but wipe it off and next week is another week.
Anthony De Schutter: It’s amazing, isn’t it? Being able to come out here and play in front of your home crowd, playing in front of friends, family – I mean, I can’t even count how many friends and family were out here today – and being able to play four very decent round of rounds of golf is very nice. It feels good.
It’s easy to say I wanted to make the cut; obviously, that’s something that goes through your head quite a bit at the beginning of the week. But I didn’t want to stay focussed on that, because the main goal was to just see where I stand compared to the guys that travel on this Tour week in, week out, and just compete hard. I feel like I succeeded with that.
I’m not going to lie; the goal was to finish as the best Belgian player (coming into the day). Obviously, you’re nervous. There were way more people today than the previous days, even though there was a lot of people already. But yeah, I was nervous. It was kind of tough to find my game at the beginning of the round. I had a couple of good up and downs, which saved me and dragged me through it a little bit.
I can’t put it into words, it’s insane – just seeing all these little Belgian golfers, hoping that maybe, by hitting some good golf shots, you can inspire them. Those are our next generation of young golfers, so it’s really nice to see them come out.
Final scores
266 R STERNE (RSA) 64 68 68 66,
268 M KINHULT (SWE) 66 67 71 64, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 68 66 66, V PEREZ (FRA) 68 69 65 66, K KANEKO (JPN) 68 65 68 67, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 66 66 68 68, J OLESEN (DEN) 64 68 67 69,
269 G DE LEO (ITA) 66 71 67 65, N KIMSEY (ENG) 67 71 63 68, B SCHMIDT (ENG) 66 66 67 70, M DAFFUE (RSA) 67 66 65 71, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 63 66 66 74,
270 D VAN DRIEL (NED) 69 68 68 65, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 69 64 67 70, A BERGSTROM (SWE) 67 67 66 70, T VAILLANT (FRA) 65 64 70 71,
271 J WINTHER (DEN) 66 70 70 65, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 67 71 68 65, F LAPORTA (ITA) 70 68 68 65, M LINDBERG (SWE) 66 71 67 67, W DING (CHN) 69 67 67 68,
272 E CHACARRA (ESP) 68 69 70 65, C JARVIS (RSA) 67 65 72 68,
273 E PEPPERELL (ENG) 69 65 72 67, J BUCHANAN (AUS) 67 70 69 67, A LEVY (FRA) 69 69 68 67, R GOUVEIA (POR) 68 71 67 67, J SCHAPER (RSA) 70 67 68 68, M COUVRA (FRA) 66 72 67 68,
274 J SCRIVENER (AUS) 67 70 71 66, D BRYANT (USA) 71 64 72 67, P WARING (ENG) 66 71 70 67, Y PREMLALL (RSA) 67 68 71 68, E WALKER (SCO) 71 65 70 68, D RAVETTO (FRA) 70 64 71 69, J DANTORP (SWE) 68 69 68 69, M ELVIRA (ESP) 67 69 68 70, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 70 67 66 71, O LINDELL (FIN) 69 68 65 72, R PARATORE (ITA) 69 65 67 73,
275 A HALVORSEN (NOR) 71 68 69 67, J BROOMHEAD (RSA) 69 66 72 68, Y ZHOU (CHN) 69 69 69 68, S CROCKER (USA) 71 68 68 68, C ADAM (SCO) 66 71 69 69, A DE SCHUTTER (AM) (BEL) 67 70 68 70,
276 C CHARMASSON (FRA) 68 69 71 68, R REPETTO TAYLOR (ESP) 68 69 71 68, J GUERRIER (FRA) 69 68 71 68, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 66 69 72 69, J DEAN (ENG) 70 69 68 69, M BALDWIN (ENG) 68 71 66 71,
277 M MANASSERO (ITA) 69 70 72 66, T DETRY (BEL) 68 68 73 68, I CANTERO (ESP) 69 68 70 70, M SIEM (GER) 68 69 70 70, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 67 66 73 71, R HOSHINO (JPN) 67 67 72 71,
278 M STEINLECHNER (AUT) 73 66 68 71, Y KATSURAGAWA (JPN) 70 68 68 72, K ULENAERS (BEL) 70 69 67 72, C HILL (SCO) 67 69 69 73,
279 S KAEWKANJANA (THA) 68 69 72 70, H DU PLESSIS (RSA) 70 68 71 70, S JAMIESON (SCO) 67 70 71 71, A BLOMME (SWE) 71 67 69 72, Y SANDHU (IND) 70 68 68 73,
280 A HAGHEDOOREN (AM) (BEL) 72 67 68 73, Q DEBOVE (FRA) 70 68 66 76,
281 G GREEN (MAS) 74 65 73 69, C SURRATT (USA) 71 68 72 70, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 68 71 70 72,
282 R FISHER (ENG) 70 69 70 73,
283 L GRINBERG (AM) (FRA) 68 71 74 70, J LUITEN (NED) 68 69 73 73, C SYME (SCO) 69 69 70 75,
**
140 E FERGUSON (SCO) 71 69, F SCHOTT (GER) 70 70, K KOBORI (NZL) 69 71, D MICHELUZZI (AUS) 72 68, R MANSELL (ENG) 76 64, T JONSSON (SWE) 71 69, A COCKERILL (CAN) 69 71, G FORREST (SCO) 70 70, R WILLIAMS (RSA) 69 71, T LAWRENCE (RSA) 66 74, S FORSSTR?M (SWE) 69 71, A OTAEGUI (UAE) 72 68, C TARREN (ENG) 71 69, J GIRRBACH (SUI) 71 69, Y PAUL (GER) 70 70, F BIONDI FIGUEIREDO (BRA) 69 71,
141 B FOLLETT-SMITH (ZIM) 68 73, J RITCHIE (RSA) 71 70, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 71 70, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 72 69, R RAMSAY (SCO) 68 73, A ARNAUS (ESP) 70 71, E MOLINARI (ITA) 69 72, F LACROIX (FRA) 71 70, U COUSSAUD (FRA) 71 70, L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 73 68, Q VIDAL (ESP) 68 73,
142 M BESARD (BEL) 72 70, J GUMBERG (USA) 74 68, A GALLEGOS (ARG) 70 72, H TOWNSEND (SWE) 71 71, S SHARMA (IND) 70 72, S MAZZOLI (ITA) 69 73, M HOLLICK (RSA) 70 72, B STONE (RSA) 72 70, J BALLESTER (ESP) 70 72, B ROBINSON THOMPSON (ENG) 71 71, A QUAYLE (AUS) 73 69, D LAW (SCO) 73 69,
143 N COSSEMENT (BEL) 74 69, F CELLI (ITA) 70 73, F MORY (FRA) 70 73, A HIDALGO (ESP) 69 74, A MERONK (POL) 70 73, J MEYER DE BECO (BEL) 70 73, D NAIDOO (RSA) 71 72, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 68 75, N N?RGAARD (DEN) 69 74, J SENIOR (ENG) 72 71, M HELLIGKILDE (DEN) 70 73,
144 D HUIZING (NED) 73 71, M JORDAN (ENG) 73 71, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 71 73,
145 S BAIRSTOW (ENG) 73 72, T CLEMENTS (ENG) 70 75, D HILLIER (NZL) 72 73, D YOUNG (SCO) 77 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 70 75, M TOOROP (NED) 73 72, J YULE (ENG) 72 73,
146 R CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 70 76, F KENNEDY (ENG) 73 73, S GARCIA (ESP) 68 78, D GERMISHUYS (RSA) 72 74, J MORRISON (ENG) 72 74, O GUILLAMOUNDEGUY (FRA) 73 73, J KO (FRA) 71 75, R PEAKE (AUS) 74 72,
148 J SKEET (AM) (BEL) 73 75, D RODRIGUES (POR) 78 70, Y VAN DOREN (BEL) 76 72, H LOGAN (USA) 77 71, L BUIJS (BEL) 76 72,
149 N ELVIRA (ESP) 72 77, J BERRY (ENG) 72 77, R JOHNSTON (USA) 77 72, C MCKINNEY (AUS) 72 77,
152 L BENTEIN (AM) (BEL) 77 75,
153 J TOLLENAIRE (AM) (BEL) 74 79,
**
OUT D GAVINS (ENG) 75 RT,
