Danish Rasmus Hojgaard finished the fourth and final round on Sunday with three birdies in a row to achieve the final victory in the Irish Open golf tournament, which began on Thursday at the Royal County Down club in Newcastle (Northern Ireland), and prevented the world number 3 and big favorite, Rory McIlroy, from winning at home.
McIlroy, results
The Northern Irishman had a three-meter putt for eagle on the 18th hole to force the playoff, but his ball narrowly escaped to the right and that shot certified Hojgaard’s victory.
Rasmus Hojgaard handed in a 65-stroke card on Sunday (6 under par), with eight birdies, the last three in the final three holes, for just two bogeys, to take his fifth title on the DP World Tour and the first since he won the Made in Himmerland in Denmark in 2023.
The young Danish golfer, aged 23, finished with 275 total strokes (-9) and was one stroke ahead of McIlroy, who started the last day as leader and finished with a round of 69 (-2). Two strokes behind Hojgaard, the Italian Matteo Manassero finished third.
The best Spaniards were the San Sebastian native Adrián Otaegui and the Santander native Nacho Elvira, who finished at par in total, sharing 17th place with other players, nine strokes behind the champion. The Madrid native Alejandro del Rey, who was in the top positions the first two days, finished with +3.
Rory McIlroy, born May 4, 1989 in Holywood (Northern Ireland), is a Northern Irish professional golfer. Young, he quickly made a name for himself for his golfing talents, first as an amateur where he won the Junior Ryder Cup in 2004, played the Walker Cup in 2007, represented Ireland at the Eisenhower Trophy in 2006 and won five tournaments including the European Amateur Championship in 2006 (as well as the European Amateur Team Championship in 2007), he turned professional in September 2007 at the age of 18.
He won his first victory on the European PGA Tour at the Dubai Desert Classic in February 2009 then his first victory on the American circuit the following year at the Quail Hollow Championship. After two third-place finishes in major tournaments, in 2009 at the PGA Championship and in 2010 at the Masters, he won his first Grand Slam title at the 2011 edition of the American Open.