Christoffer Bring, a senior at the University of Texas, dug himself out of an early hole on Saturday to win the 2021 European Amateur Championship at golf du Médoc Resort in France.
The 22-year-old Danish player started the final round at 16-under-par, one stroke behind,
Ludvig Åberg of Sweden, the top-ranked male amateur in the world as listed by Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com. He fell four shots behind after opening his final round with a double bogey while Aberg countered with a birdie.
However, Bring kept is composure and made birdies on two of the next three holes while Aberg dropped a shot on the fourth hole, bringing the margin back to one stroke.
Åberg was still clinging to a one stroke lead through 12 holes, but gave up sole possession of the lead following a three-putt bogey on the 13th. After both players birdied the par-5 14th, a pulled drive on 15 by Aberg led to another bogey, giving Bring the lead with just three holes to play.
By the 13th hole, Åberg's lead was still just one shot in the final pairing, although a three-putt bogey to a difficult pin position on the 13th green would level the score at -18. The Dane extended his lead to two with a birdie on the par-4 16th to get to 20-under. Two pars to finish cemented a final round 67 and with it the European Amateur championship.
The penultimate pairing consisted of two Spanish players,
Joel Moscatel, winner of the Madrid Amateur in May, and David Puig, who plays collegiately at Arizona State. The Spaniards were in contention, starting the day within just four shots of the lead, and would have given Spain its first champion in the event since Sergio Garcia (1995) with victory this week.
Despite getting within one shot of the lead heading into the back-nine, Puig was unable to challenge the Scandinavian leaders after costly mistakes on the 11th and 12th holes. A final round 71 (par) and a total of -15 would earn the Spaniard the bronze medal, however.
Bring becomes the fourth Danish player to win the European Masters and the second in a span of three years. Nicolai Hojgaard lifted the trophy in 2018, Lucas Bjerregaard in 2010, and Morten Backhausen in 1993. The victory also earns Bring a spot in the 149th Open Championship at Royal St. George's, where he'll play alongside 2019 and 2020 champion, Matthias Schmid.
ABOUT THE European Amateur
The premier championship in
Europe,
conducted by the European Golf
Association,
which is comprised of 38 member
countries. 72
hole stroke play format. After 54 holes the field is cut
to the leading 60 players and ties. The winner earns
a spot in the British Open.
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