Broberg’s defence
Kristoffer Broberg will return to the Netherlands to defend his title after claiming his second DP World Tour title in September, claiming a three-stroke victory over Matti Schmid.

The Swede has struggled with injury this season and this will be his first event since withdrawing from the withdrew Qatar Masters in March.

MORE: Emotional win for Broberg at Dutch open

Major places on offer
There is more than just the usual trophy, glory and ranking points on offer this week as the Dutch Open is also offering spots at the Open Championship in July. The top three players finishing in the top 10 and ties at Bernardus not otherwise exempt will be teeing it up at St Andrews for the 150th Open for the fourth major of 2022.

The Dutch Open is also the third of the four-event European Qualifying Series, with players continuing to vie for one of the 10 spots available for the US Open at Brookline in June.

The other qualifying events were the British Masters, the Soudal Open ahead of this week and the European Open (June 2-5).

Steeped in history
The Dutch Open was first held way back in 1912, and there have been 76 winners from 18 different countries.

There have been six Dutch winners, including most recently Joost Luiten, who has claimed the trophy twice in 2013 and 2016.

This year’s field includes home hopes Wil Besseling and Darius Van Driel..

Ballesteros in the field
One name that will catch attention is that of tournament invitee Javier Ballesteros, the eldest son of five-time major champion Seve.

This year marks the 46th anniversary of Seve Ballesteros’ maiden DP World Tour win at the 1976 Dutch Open. Ballesteros would go on to land 50 Tour wins, the most by any player to date.

Javier, who made his professional debut in 2014, has competed in several Tour events since, most recently in the Andalucia Masters at Real Club Valderrama last year.

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The post DP World Tour: Key things to know ahead of the 2022 Dutch Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
It looked all over, but it wasn’t. Leading by eight shots after three rounds of the 101st Dutch Open, Kristoffer Broberg’s second European Tour victory appeared to be a formality. The 35-year-old Swede had set a new course record over the Kyle Phillips-designed Bernardus Golf course two days in succession (64-61) en route to leaving a field headed by Denmark’s Marcus Helligkilde needing binoculars to keep him in even distant view. How could he lose?

Well, in the end he didn’t. An even-par 72 on Sunday was good enough to clinch the title, his first since the 2015 BMW Masters in China (where he defeated future Masters champion Patrick Reed in a sudden-death playoff). His 23-under-par 265 would be three shots better than the eventual runner-up, Matthias Schmid.

But oh, how those relatively bland statistics conceal what went on during the final round. Far from the expected procession, it instead contained memorable moments of high drama.

Top of that list was the 535-yard par-5 12th. After a series of misadventures involving a badly pushed approach, a despairing hack and a penalty drop, Broberg was lying 5 and faced with a chip over a greenside bunker from a sandy lie. It was a horrible shot, one every golfer fears. And one exacerbated by the knowledge that Schmid, the two-time European Amateur champ who was low amateur in the Open at Royal St. George’s this year before turning pro, had a legitimate putt for eagle that might just see the pair tied with six holes to play.

Broberg then hit what will surely be one of the shots of his career, holing out for a bogey that, when his nearest challenger missed, kept him two shots clear.

Wow, huge drama on the 11th! ?

Kristoffer Broberg chips in to make a miraculous bogey. #DutchOpen2021 pic.twitter.com/wvHHnSCuEC

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 19, 2021

One hole later, that advantage was doubled when Schmid, playing in only his eighth European Tour event, committed his only serious error in a final-round 66. A badly pushed tee shot on the 214-yard par-3 finished in a hazard and led to a double-bogey 5.

It should have been all over—again—but standing on the penultimate tee Broberg’s lead was back to two shots. And it was there that the crucial thrust was made, the Swede holing from 20 feet for the birdie that allowed him to play the water-strewn 574-yard par-5 18th in the cautious fashion that guaranteed a victory surely no one saw coming at the start of the week.

Not even Broberg. Arriving in the Netherlands he was, statistically at least, the 772nd best golfer on the planet. His lone European Tour victory was an increasingly distant memory and his most recent top-10 finish came, wait for it, at that same BMW Masters (albeit various injuries meant Broberg started only 22 European Tour events and made just eight cuts between 2017 and 2020).

Even Broberg’s most recent form offered little in the way of encouragement. In 13 previous starts this year, a T-14 finish at the Scandinavian Mixed was his best effort. Little wonder then that he languished a lowly 154th on the season-long Race to Dubai.

Octavio Passos
Kristoffer Broberg waves at the 18th green after winning the Dutch Open.

All in all, pretty ugly stuff, with little to suggest a positive change in fortunes at the end of what a tearful Broberg called “six years of hell” during what turned into a brief interview moments after he eventually sealed victory.

“I’m happy right now, but the game wasn’t there today,” he said. “I was struggling all day and never felt comfortable over the ball. But I’m happy to have pulled it off. The chip-in on 12 was great but it didn’t really change my momentum. I hit a bad 3-wood into water on the 14th. But I made a great up-and-down on 15. I was so happy with that. Then I made a putt on 17. This means so much …”

And then he broke down. It had been that sort of day.

The post Eight-shot lead nearly not enough for Euro Tour pro who ‘hangs on’ for emotional win appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
There wasn’t a photographer in sight (thus the file pic), nor apparently a TV camera to record the 29th hole-in-one in Omega Dubai Desert Classic history on Thursday.

The post Broberg’s Timeless Ace appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.