Justin Harding pulled off a top-10 finish on Sunday in the European Tour’s Dutch Open at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, Netherlands as he carded a final-round six-under-par 66 to finish in a share of ninth.
He got it to seven-under in his final round when he made his fifth birdie of the day on 15, and, together with the eagle he made on the 12th, he looked as if he could reach a final total of at least 15-under. But he made bogey on 16, and then parred his way home to finish on 13-under together with Thomas Pieters of Belgium and Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand.
Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg won the tournament on 23-under, and, but for the seemingly permanent possibility that he was going to implode, his level-par 72 was enough to give him his second European Tour title after his first came way back in November 2015. He had an eventual three-stroke margin over runner-up Matthias Schmid of Germany, who, in only his eighth European Tour tournament, looks the finished article at 20. Schmid’s 66 gave Broberg plenty to worry about as the form which brought him a superb 11-under 61 in the third round and an eight-stroke lead going into the final round deserted him.
Behind Harding, Branden Grace could just not find any back-nine birdies after making three on his front nine. His three-under 69 took him to 12-under and a share of 12th.
Wilco Nienaber had a solid week, and closed with a two-under 70 to finish in a share of 22nd on nine-under. Brandon Stone closed with a four-under 68 to put his two poor middle rounds behind him, and his total of seven-under was good for a share of 32nd. Bryce Easton had a one-over 73 to finish in 38th and George Coetzee had a final-round level-par 72 as he finished in 50th on four-under.
