November 15, 2015: Kristoffer Broberg sealed Sweden’s 100th European Tour victory on a day of high drama at the BMW Masters, beating American Patrick Reed with a brilliant birdie on the first play-off hole to claim his maiden title on the top tier.
The 29 year old claimed four Challenge Tour titles in a sensational season in 2012, but victory in the penultimate event of the ‘Final Series’ after a closing round of 68 was by far the biggest of his burgeoning career.
The lead changed hands countless times on a day of twists and turns at Lake Malaren Golf Club, in Shanghai, but Ryder Cup star Reed looked to have taken charge of proceedings after he followed up a quite stunning eagle three on the 15th – holing out from a fairway bunker from 97 yards – with a birdie on the 16th to move to 18 under par.
However, Reed missed his par putt from four feet on the next hole to open the door for playing partner Broberg, who parred the last two holes, meaning both players finished on 17 under par.
Both Thongchai Jaidee and Byeong Hun An, playing alongside Sergio Garcia in the final group, had makeable birdie putts on the final green to force their way into the play-off, but after their efforts came up short, the stage was set for a straight shootout between Broberg and Reed.
The American could only find the greenside bunker with his second shot to the 18th, and Broberg’s subsequent approach to ten feet piled the pressure on Reed, who splashed out to three feet.
Using a putter belong to the wife of his coach Viktor Gustavsson, Broberg belied his relative inexperience with a nerveless putt into the middle of the cup to spark jubilant scenes, with Henrik Stenson – who finished in a tie for third place on 16 under par after a late charge – Rikard Karlberg and Alex Noren dousing the winner in champagne.
Victory moved Broberg to 12th place in The Race to Dubai and on course to qualify for the Bonus Pool money, awarded to the top 15 players in the Rankings on conclusion of next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
The 888,880 points Reed received for finishing runner-up moved him up to 15th in The Race to Dubai, one place ahead of Stenson, who came up just short after coming home in 31.
Stenson was joined in a share of third place by An (70), Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard (70) and Jaidee (71).
Justin Rose closed with a round of 67 to finish in a share of seventh place on 15 under par alongside his fellow Englishman Paul Casey, who dropped his only shot of the day on the last for a round of 69.
“I worked so hard all my life for this. I’m just so happy to win on the main tour, because I won four times on the Challenge Tour. I’m just so happy to win, because I worked so hard all year,” said Broberg.
“Patrick’s short game was unbelievable all day. I was playing really good the front nine, and I was struggling a bit, a little nervous. On the last the four last holes, I was really, really nervous.”
“I got into the playoff and I saw him hit it right. And I hit it a really good drive on the left side, and I thought, here is my chance, I want to get by the trap. I hit a good nine iron up to four or five metres from the hole and was so happy.”
“The players out there are really, really good and this is just a really good field. So I’m just happy to beat all of them. This means a lot to me. A few weeks ago; I could never win here. I was just so down, and I’m so happy right now. I have no words.”
“I played great. Going into today, I knew I had to go shoot a low number. I had two mud balls, one on eight, kind of hooked it left and missed a short putt. Then I had a putt on 17, I hit a good iron shot, but had one too many clubs. I thought I hit a good chip and hit a perfect putt that didn’t go in. Unfortunately I left the putt short on 18 and unfortunately in the playoff left the bunker shot short, which I didn’t think was possible,” admitted Patrick Reed.
“It is what it is. Of course, I’m not happy and not pleased with the result. But at the end of the day, if you would have told me I would have come over, finish second, I wouldn’t have teed it up this week; I would have taken it and left. It was a solid week and I just have to build on it and have to do things just a little bit better to get in the winner’s circle.”
“I saw it was a really tight leaderboard. It was just a shame on the last I didn’t get it to the hole. If I would have put that one in, it would have been in the playoff. It’s a good rehearsal for next week for sure. I’m really looking forward to coming back to Dubai, trying to win that one for the third time in a row. I played nicely throughout this week and just need to make a few more on the greens,” said Henrik Stenson
“It was so close today. I missed a couple birdie putts, but it wasn’t a poor effort. I gave everything. Would have been nice if I dropped more putts, but I made a couple of other par putts. So it equals out I think,” opined Byeong Hun An.
“I’ve been playing well. It feels like today wasn’t my best day, and hopefully next week I’ll have more better days. I think I’ll be in contention again.”
Final round scores (par 72):
271 K Broberg (Swe) 69 70 64 68, P Reed (USA) 71 69 64 67,
272 H Stenson (Swe) 68 71 65 68, B An (Kor) 65 71 66 70, L Bjerregaard (Den) 66 66 70 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 67 68 66 71,
273 J Rose (Eng) 67 72 67 67, P Casey (Eng) 67 69 68 69,
274 S Kjeldsen (Den) 72 67 71 64, J Quesne (Fra) 70 69 69 66,
275 I Poulter (Eng) 68 68 68 71, S Garcia (Esp) 64 71 67 73,
276 T Pieters (Bel) 71 71 63 71, M Fraser (Aus) 70 70 65 71, R Fisher (Eng) 66 71 67 72, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68 71 67 70,
277 A Sullivan (Eng) 74 71 67 65, F Molinari (Ita) 68 70 69 70, D Howell (Eng) 69 71 69 68, S Hend (Aus) 69 73 66 69, V Dubuisson (Fra) 65 73 68 71,
279 C Wood (Eng) 70 69 70 70, B Grace (RSA) 71 71 69 68,
280 G Storm (Eng) 72 72 69 67, E Grillo (Arg) 71 70 74 65, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 69 70 70, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 71 71 69 69
Picture Credit – European Tour Website/Getty Images
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