Soren Kjeldsen secures Irish Open title

• Dane Soren Kjeldsen grabs first win for more than six years
• Defeated Bernd Wiesberger and Eddie Pepperell in a play-off
• Also secures qualification for the Open Championship in July

Soren Kjeldsen secured his fourth European Tour title and his first for more than six years after defeating Bernd Wiesberger and Eddie Pepperell in a play-off at the Irish Open.

The 40-year-old started the day on seven-under par, two shots clear of Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Maximilian Kieffer – who broke the course record on Saturday with a six-under par 65 – but in harsh conditions struggled to a 76 to finish two-under overall.

The conditions reflected in the scoring for the vast majority of players though. Eleven players started the final day at Royal County Down under par but come Sunday afternoon, that had been cut to five, with only four players recording below par rounds all day, one of those Pepperell, who remarkably shot a bogey-free 69.

“The 3-wood second shot in the play-off was pretty special” – Soren Kjeldsen

Wiesberger was two-over for his final round and after Soren Kjeldsen missed his birdie putt on the par-5 18th, a three-way play-off followed with the Dane making no mistake on the same hole, just about draining his putt under little pressure from the Austrian and Pepperell, who were both off the green.

“The last breath I took was on about the 14th,” said Soren Kjeldsen, who has moved up almost 200 places in the world rankings to No.105.

“I had decided not to look at leaderboards but once I started dropping shots I started looking because it gave me a little pleasure that I wasn’t the only one struggling because it was such a brutal day.

“I was leaking shots left, right and centre but made a great up and down on 15 and the 3-wood second shot in the play-off was pretty special.”

As a result of the win, Kjeldsen has also secured qualification for the Open Championship in July, along with Pepperell and Tyrrell Hatton, who finished in a tie for fourth alongside Cabrera-Bello but qualified due to being higher in the world rankings.

Soren Kjeldsen wins the Irish Open :: Your thoughts

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