Despite the low round of the day on Sunday in the final round of the DP World Tour’s European Open, Thriston Lawrence’s five-under-par 68 fell just two shots short of forcing a play-off at the Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg, Germany.

He may rue two bogeys in his final round – on the third and the 13^th – as he set about trying to chase down the eventual winner Laurie Canter of England. Canter was stumbling as he chased a maiden DP World Tour title, making three bogeys on his way to a closing one-under 72, but it was enough to give him a two-stroke edge over Lawrence and Austria’s Bern Wiesberger.

Lawrence had a fine tournament after a poor start of four-over-par 77 in the first round. He followed that with rounds of 67, 69 and 68 to show just why he is so highly regarded. His performance projects him to rise four places on the Race to Dubai rankings to ninth.

Behind Lawrence, Jayden Schaper, who was so impressive throughout the tournament, stumbled to a closing two-over-par 75. That saw him slip to six-over for the tournament and a share of 13^th.

Dylan Frittelli also had something of a battle in the final round, signing for a three-over-par 76 which included two early double-bogeys. He finished in a share of 20^th on four-under-par. Ockie Strydom had a closing one-over-par 74 and, at one-under, was in a share of 30^th.

Casey Jarvis had a poor seven-over-par 80 in the final round and slipped to six-over and a share of 60^th.

Canter entered day four in a two-way tie at the top of the leaderboard but had three players for company after playing his first 10holes in one-over. The pressure was on Canter but he produced three birdies on his way in to sign for a 72 and finish at 13-under.

After coming through the Qualifying School in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Canter spent the 2019 season on the European Challenge Tour but had his breakthrough in the Covid-affected 2020 campaign.

He finished second at the Portugal Masters and the Italian Open to sit in the top 20 on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and has had two more runner-up finishes, including at this season’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

Despite a top 10 at last week’s Soudal Open, he was playing with a new set of irons this week and that decision has paid dividends as he moves into the top 10 on the Race to Dubai and the summit of the European Swing Rankings.

“This is what I’ve always wanted to do: to win on the DP World Tour,” he said.