Johnston tastes Spanish success at Empordà

Tournament: Empordà Challenge
Venue: Empordà Golf, Girona, Spain
Hashtag: #EmpordaChallenge

Final Round Report

Liam Johnston put a tough couple of years behind him by securing his first victory since 2018 at the Empordà Challenge.

The Scot posted a three under par round of 67 to finish on 13 under par, two clear of Englishman Todd Clements who climbed the leaderboard on day four to secure his best European Challenge Tour finish at Empordà Golf.

Johnston, now a three-time Challenge Tour winner, had missed 16 cuts in his last 20 Road to Mallorca appearances before teeing it up in Girona this week but his perseverance paid off in style as he added the Empordà Challenge title to his 2018 victories at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 and the Kazakhstan Open.

"It feels pretty good. It's actually not just pretty good, it's incredible," he said. "It's unbelievable, it's been a couple of really hard years for me recently, and even the start of this year has been tough, but I have just been persevering and working hard and I'm glad it's finally paid off here.

"It's nice to know that I've been working so hard for two years, sometimes not on the right things, but just keeping working hard, and just learning about myself.

"It's more that I'm just happy to see that it is starting to pay off now, more than anything else. You know what the Challenge Tour is, you have to stay on the front foot, you have got to keep pushing to try to get into that top 20 and then try to finish as high up as you can. Obviously it's nice, but I'm already thinking about the next few weeks going forwards."

The 29-year-old navigated the final round with the poise of a seasoned winner, dropping just a single shot on the par four 17th hole, and he revealed afterwards that the first time he looked at a leaderboard was on the 18th tee, where he opted to hit a two iron.

"I didn't look at a single leaderboard all week until the 18th tee, I knew I was up there obviously because I was in the final group today," he said. "I just kept an eye on my score and just really tried to get to 15 under - that was my goal for today.

"I was just trying to be as aggressive as I could because the guys behind me are all so capable of shooting seven or eight under and catching up. Once I got to the 18th tee and saw I was two shots ahead it made the decision for me.

"I was thinking earlier in the round that if I was in that situation I wasn't going to hit driver and that's what I did - I played the two iron and then a lovely five iron onto the green and managed to get out of there with two putts."

Overnight leader Jens Dantorp posted a one over par round of 71 to finish third on ten under par, while Frenchman Gary Stal was a shot further back in fourth. France's Clément Sordet, Norwegian Kristian Krogh Johannessen and New Zealand's Daniel Hillier shared fifth place on eight under par.

Johnston's victory sees him climb 94 places into tenth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, while Clements occupies 12th place, up from 45th. Dantorp is into second after his third place continued the good form which saw him pick up the Challenge de España trophy last month, and is now just 18,000 points off top spot.

The Road to Mallorca now makes its second trip of the season to the Czech Republic for the Kaskáda Golf Challenge at Kaskáda Golf Resort from June 16-19.

Grant makes history with amazing win in Sweden

Tournament: Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed
DP World Tour Rankings: Tournament 19 of 44 events
Venue: Halmstad GC, Tylösand, Sweden
Prize Fund: $2,000,000
Hashtag: #VolvoScandinavianMixed #DPWT #RaiseOurGame

Final Round Report

Linn Grant made history in front of her home fans as she stormed to a stunning nine-shot victory at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed to become the first female winner of a DP World Tour event.

The 22-year-old Swede produced a nerveless display of frontrunning on Sunday to keep a host of DP World Tour stars at bay and claim her third Ladies European Tour title in just six starts this season.

Grant did not put a foot wrong at Halmstad Golf Club on day four, stretching her overnight lead from two shots to seven with five birdies in the first six holes.

She managed to keep her card clean with three successive pars as the rain poured down over the next few holes before making another birdie on the tenth.

Spurred on by the enormous crowds that followed her wherever she went, Grant picked up further shots at the 11th and 14th to sign for a flawless 64, topping the leaderboard at 24 under par to win by the biggest margin on the DP World Tour so far this season.

Home hero and tournament co-host Henrik Stenson finished in a tie for second on 15 under alongside Scotland's Marc Warren, with back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th helping Stenson to a closing 70.

Player Quotes

Linn Grant: "I'm speechless and I'm so happy that I'm at home just to see all the kids and my family is here and everyone that I care about is watching, so it's really nice. I was actually surprisingly calm on the first tee. My first day with Annika was my most scary and stressful one, so today on the first fairway I told Pontus that I was very calm and it's very doable today to play with this.

"I felt happy and relieved and to be able to get in the zone and just enjoy golf for a last day was very nice. When I walked up on the 13th green, I saw the leaderboard and I saw it was eight shots and it was very relaxing to not have to change gears and I could just go out and continue doing what I was doing.

"I hope this victory is big. I hope it brings women more forward and it gets people's eyes on us a little bit more. It is always nice to say that you beat the guys for a week! To be able to speak Swedish and hear everyone out there cheering for you, it was amazing."

"Pontus (Grant's caddie and boyfriend) has been amazing, keeping me calm and doing everything right. The crowds are, like always, amazing. Swedish crowds!"

"It's a nice feeling. All week I just felt like it's the girls against the guys and whoever picks up that trophy represents the field."

Henrik Stenson "I think in the end I ended up tied second with a couple of late birdies and the only thing I could have done better was solo second because there was just one player out there today and she played amazing. Every time I looked back she was in prime position and just gave herself birdie chance one after another I would imagine, so there wasn't much I could do against a player like that, so very well played and congratulations to Linn.

"It has been great and like Annika said Halmstad has been a great venue for it. We have a great hotel just around the corner and golf course in good shape and good setup, so it has just been good fun to be out there with everyone. They have enjoyed themselves and so have we as busy hosts this week, and I managed to make a few birdies myself along the way which was good, so we are going to be back and looking forward to next year already.

Annika Sörenstam: "It has been a great success and I want to congratulate Linn Grant for a dominate performance, and my co-host here Henrik for his finish today, I am very proud of him.

"I think the dream scenario is we would like to have one each win every other year and now we have been two years and we have got a male winner and a female winner, so I think that the concept works and it can be fun, and competitive, but it has been a great week.

"It has been nice to have great crowds, especially this weekend, and a great golf course, so we are super excited and great to see we had such a wonderful finish. It wasn't maybe as exciting as we wanted but I think overall the performance of Linn and having a few more players up there, it means a lot for the tournament moving forward."