Late Larrazabal birdie blitz seals Dutch Open win

Spain's Pablo Larrazabal produced a late birdie blitz to win his second title in four weeks at the Dutch Open on Sunday.

Larrazabal, 40, pulled off a big finish for a two-shot victory and a ninth European Tour title at Bernardus Golf, after also winning the Korea Championship in April.

Overnight leader Larrazabal recovered from a poor start to the final round with a series of birdies to sit in a five-way tie at the top after 12 holes.

And he finished with birdies on the 15th, 17th and 18th for a closing round of 69 and a 13 under par finish.

Pablo Larrazábal claims his ninth DP World Tour title ??#KLMOpen pic.twitter.com/zdQisoZCto

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 28, 2023

Fellow Spaniard Adrian Otaegui was second on 11 under after sealing his final-round 70 with a birdie.

Dane Rasmus Hojgaard and South African Deon Germishuys were in a tie for third, one stroke further back.

"It doesn't matter how fast you run at the beginning, you have to run fast at the end to win the race," said Larrazabal.

"And that's what I did. What a putt on the last. I tried to make two putts from 20 feet and suddenly I made it.

"I'm so proud of myself and so proud of my team. We struggled big time through Covid but here we are - four wins in the last 15 months. It means too much to me."

Just look at what it means for @plarrazabal ??#KLMOpen pic.twitter.com/CjOpgJYfu6

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 28, 2023

Larrazabal hopes to follow fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez who won 13 European Tour titles in his 40s.

"Hopefully I do 20 per cent of what Miguel did in his forties. This is the first win of 40."

FINAL SCORES

-13 Pablo Larrazábal (Spain) 66 73 67 69

-11 Adrian Otaegui (Spain) 67 71 69 70

-10 Deon Germishuys (South Africa) 70 71 68 69 Rasmus Hojgaard (Denmark) 69 71 67 71

-9 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand) 67 73 70 69 Daniel Hillier (New Zealand) 70 67 71 71 Adrian Meronk (Poland) 69 70 69 71

-7 Rowin Caron (Netherlands) 72 68 71 70 Ewen Ferguson (Scotland) 71 71 71 68 Grant Forrest (Scotland) 70 72 70 69 Gavin Green (Malaysia) 69 70 69 73

-6 John Axelsen (Denmark) 70 75 71 66 Filippo Celli (Italy) 75 68 69 70 Mikael Lindberg (Sweden) 69 76 67 70 Mike Lorenzo

-5 Matthew Jordan (England) 74 69 70 70 Romain Langasque (France) 69 72 72 70 David Ravetto (France) 75 69 72 67 Shubhankar Sharma (India) 67 74 72 70 Lars Van Meijel (Netherlands) 74 69 72 68

-4 Matthew Baldwin (England) 72 71 71 70 Todd Clements (England) 69 70 69 76 Jazz Janewattananond (Thailand) 71 68 70 75 Maximilian Kieffer (Germany) 70 70 71 73 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 67 72 72 73 Tom McKibbin (Northern Ireland) 71 72 69 72 Niklas Norgaard Moller (Denmark) 71 71 71 71 Matti Schmid (Germany) 70 75 71 68

-3 Marcus Armitage (England) 68 70 73 74 Alexander Björk (Sweden) 71 73 73 68 Dan Bradbury (England) 72 67 72 74 Julien Brun (France) 69 72 71 73 Jorge Campillo (Spain) 63 71 76 75 Louis De Jager (South Africa) 70 74 72 69 Daan Huizing (Netherlands) 75 65 72 70 Marcus Kinhult (Sweden) 68 70 71 76 Antoine Rozner (France) 73 71 66 75 Kalle Samooja (Finland) 72 71 71 71

-2 Alejandro Del Rey (Spain) 67 71 74 74 Julien Guerrier (France) 73 71 69 73 Hurly Long (Germany) 74 71 72 69 James Morrison (England) 71 71 75 69 Renato Paratore (Italy) 68 68 74 76 Matthieu Pavon (France) 73 68 72 73 Richie Ramsay (Scotland) 69 70 74 73 Max Schmitt (Germany) 71 69 72 74 Andy Sullivan (England) 66 74 71 75

-1 Sean Crocker (USA) 69 74 70 74 Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 68 74 73 72 Marcel Schneider (Germany) 74 69 72 72 Sebastian Soderberg (Sweden) 73 69 72 73 Clément Sordet (France) 71 71 74 71 Joël Stalter (France) 66 73 77 71 Connor Syme (Scotland) 72 73 73 69

0 Ryo Hisatsune (Japan) 72 73 74 69 Rikuya Hoshino (Japan) 73 72 71 72 Joshua Lee (USA) 68 74 73 73 Freddy Schott (Germany) 77 67 71 73 Lars Van Der Vight (Netherlands) 75 69 70 74

1 Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spain) 70 75 71 73 Mateusz Gradecki (Poland) 74 70 69 76 Marcus Helligkilde (Denmark) 73 72 69 75 Tapio Pulkkanen (Finland) 70 72 72 75 Ricardo Santos (Portugal) 71 73 73 72 Marcel Siem (Germany) 69 75 70 75 Oliver Wilson (England) 71 71 71 76

2 Kristian K Johannessen (Norway) 73 71 77 69 David Law (Scotland) 73 71 68 78 Jayden Schaper (South Africa) 71 73 71 75

4 Ross Fisher (England) 74 71 73 74 Simon Forsstrom (Sweden) 73 72 78 69 Chengyao Ma (China PR) 70 72 76 74 Vince Van Veen (Netherlands) 70 70 77 72 Marc Warren (Scotland) 72 73 71 76 Ding Wenyi (China PR) 69 73 73 77

5 Johannes Veerman (USA) 75 70 75 73

6 Gonzalo Fernandez Castano (Spain) 72 73 77 72 John Parry (England) 67 77 74 76

7 Jeremy Freiburghaus (Switzerland) 71 73 73 78

10 Daniel Brown (England) 73 72 78 75

11 Dale Whitnell (England) 67 74 79 79