Dan Brown secured an emotional two shot victory to lift the BMW International Open trophy at Golfclub München Eichenried.
Related: Dan Brown soars to BMW International Open summit
The Englishman posted a scintillating six under par 66 to reach 22 under par and fend off playing partner Jordan Smith, who collected his second runner-up finish in the BMW International Open.
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The 30-year-old burst into tears after securing his second DP World Tour title and revealed he had been playing in memory of a close friend, who sadly passed away last week.
Brown, who carded only three bogeys all week, set the tone from the off with back-to-back birdies to start his round. Another pair arrived at the fifth and sixth as he kept his nose in front, despite Smith closing the gap as he made the turn at five under.
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The challenger made three bogeys in five holes from the tenth while Brown, the 2023 ISPS HANDA World Invitational winner, kept calm and continued to go about his business, birdieing the 12th and safely knocking in the pars as he went down the stretch.
Brown had a two-stroke lead stood on the 18th tee and after finding the fairway with his tee shot, many at Golfclub München Eichenried were expecting him to lay-up on the par five closing hole. However, Brown took out three-wood and hit a sublime shot to 20 feet.
After seeing Smith, who also found the green in two, knock his eagle attempt by, Brown knew he had breathing room and hit his first putt to three feet, before converting his birdie and securing an emotional victory.
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His win sees him climb 35 places to 15th on the Race to Dubai Rankings and 99 spots to fifth on the final European Swing Rankings, which were won by Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan after his tie for fourth in Munich.
Kiwi Kazuma Kobori secured his best DP World Tour finish after an excellent final round 63 saw him finish third on 18 under par, two clear of Reitan, American Davis Bryant and Dutchman Joost Luiten in a tie for fourth.
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There was also reason to celebrate for Reitan, England’s John Parry, China’s Haotong Li, New Zealander Daniel Hillier and South Africa’s Shaun Norris, who all secured their spots in the final men’s Major Championship of the year, The 153rd Open, via the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Player quotes
Dan Brown: The first one didn’t really sink in, but that one was straight away hit me. I lost a friend at home last weekend. I don’t know what to say really, but that was for him.
The last two days I’ve been thinking about him to try and take my mind off it, obviously try not to get too emotional in the process.
I’m not too sure what happened today like all day, it was an out-of-body experience. Obviously nerves, and then thinking about the importance of winning a golf tournament.
It sort of played it down with what happened, I suppose he was there with me and it made it a lot easier.
