The Englishman Sam Horsfield entered round four of the Hero Open at Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club with a one-shot lead and sat atop the leaderboard almost all day until Detry passed him with a birdie on the 17th.
That was the first time Horsfield – who held a six shot lead at the turn on Saturday – had not been in pole position all weekend but a Detry bogey on the last put him back in a share of top spot.
A birdie on the par five 17th then put the 23-year-old back in the solo lead and he held his nerve up the last to sign for a 68, an 18 under par total and a maiden victory in his 65th European Tour appearance.
Belgian Detry signed for a 66 to finish a single shot behind, three ahead of Swede Alexander Björk, Welshman Oliver Farr and England’s Chris Paisley.
Horsfield appeared on the golfing radar at the age of just 13 when he recorded a 59 at his home course in Florida, a score he matched when playing with friends in Orlando during the coronavirus hiatus.
A 61 last week at Close House Golf Club showed that he could match that form with a competitive card in hand on the UK Swing and he was threatening to blow the field away here as he followed a 63 on Friday with an opening nine of 31 in round three.
A back nine of 40 on Saturday and a wonderful Sunday performance from Detry ensured there would be no procession to victory, but Horsfield showed all the quality that saw him romp to an eight shot victory in the 2017 Qualifying School to become the first home winner of this event since Lee Westwood in 1998.
“It’s special,” he said. “With everything that’s going on in the world right now, I’m thankful that the European Tour has been able to put on tournaments for us to play.
“I’ve been in Orlando for the last three months and felt like my game was right there.
“I played solid all week and gave myself a lot of opportunities and made one enough.
“I knew that any slip up – I bogeyed 15, hit a horrendous chip and I put myself under the gun. Me and my caddie on the 17th tee, we said ‘you’re tied, go do this thing. You’ve been playing good all day, been playing good all week, just hit a bunch of good shots coming in’. I probably hit one of the best shots I’ve hit in my life on 17 and it paid off.”
Much has been made of Horsfield being tipped as a star of the future by Ryder Cup star and 12 time European Tour winner Ian Poulter when he was just a junior, and the champion revealed he was given advice by Poulter’s caddie Terry Mundy on Saturday night.
“I’ll see Terry (Mundy) tonight and I’m sure we’ll have a few beers. Last night I called Terry, we talked about him and Ian being in situations where they’ve had one shot leads or having been leading at a golf tournament. He said ‘go out there and play good golf, if you get beat, you get beat’.
“I had that mindset today. I thought I’m going to do my own thing, play good golf and if someone wants to catch me, then good for them.”
Detry bogeyed the first but hit back on the second, took advantage of the par five third and then put his approach to four feet on the fourth to get within one of the lead.
Horsfield put his second to three feet on the opener and the 23-year-old also made the most of the third before he could not get up and down from the rough at the side of the fifth.
Detry dropped a shot on the sixth but picked it straight back up on the par five seventh and then put a wonderful tee shot to two feet on the par three next to get back within a single stroke.
Horsfield was not in the mood to be caught, however, and he put an approach to 12 feet on the sixth and got up and down from the sand on the seventh to lead at the turn, with Detry three shots behind.
A two putt birdie on the par five 12th kept the 27-year-old in the mix but he still trailed by three when Horsfield holed a 30 footer on the tenth.
Detry holed from eight feet on the 13th and 18 on the 16th to sit just one behind, and he would have the lead as he got up and down on the par five 17th, with Horsfield failing to do the same two holes behind.
But a very short missed putt led to a closing bogey and Horsfield hit a sublime five wood to the side of the 17th green, getting up and down for the birdie that sealed victory.
Björk signed for a 69, Paisley carded a 70 and Farr recorded a 71, with the trio sitting a shot ahead of Dane Rasmus Højgaard, German Maximilian Kieffer, Finn Mikko Korhonen and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.
