Joakim Lagergren secured his second title on the 2024 Road to Mallorca with a one-stroke victory on home soil on a dramatic final day of the Indoor Golf Group Challenge, while a late double bogey cost Dermot McElroy valuable Road to Mallorca ranking points as he slipped to seventh.
After 67s on Friday and Saturday, the Ballymena man lay solo second and played in the final threeball alongside Lagergren and 54-hole leader Mikael Lindberg, and a birdie-birdie start suggested a maiden Challenge Tour victory could be on the cards. But back-to-back bogeys on three and four saw him slip five shots behind.
Birdies at six, 13 and 15 were cancelled by bogeys on eight, nine and 14, but he still found himself tied for third standing on the 18th tee. But the closing hole is brutally tough, even though it’s a par-5, and McElroy’s ‘seven’ saw him drop four places and he was forced to settle for a solo-seventh-place finish. He still climbs 15 places to 55 on the Road to Mallorca rankings.
Jonathan Caldwell closed out with a three-under 68 that lifted him to 24th, while Conor O’Rourke’s level-par 71 saw him finish in 61st.
Lagergren began the day four shots behind compatriot Lindberg and was unable to gain ground, trailing by three strokes after a level par front nine. However, he gained momentum with birdies at 11 and 12, and despite a bogey at 14, added two more gains at 15 and 16 – though he remained two shots behind Lindberg heading down the final two holes.
Stood on the 18th tee Lindberg was one stroke ahead on 13 under after dropping a shot on the par three 17th hole. The 54-hole leader then found the rough off the tee and carded a triple bogey eight to hand Lagergren, who parred the last, the victory in front of packed crowds at Vesterby Links.
“It feels amazing. To win on home soil is just a dream come true,” said the 32-year-old.
“I had huge support out there. My fans been having my back for my whole career when I’ve been playing my home. Every time I’m in Sweden they’re supporting me, and pushing me through, so I love them – they mean a lot to me.
“I felt like Mikael was just a couple too far in front all the time, and when he made his birdie on fifteen and I holed it afterwards, it was huge to not fall four behind, and the birdie on 16 was huge.
“I feel sorry for Mikael, because he got a terrible lie in the rough on 18. That’s not how you want to win a tournament, but I’m very happy that I’m on top in the end.”
Lagergren’s triumph is his second of the year on the 2024 Road to Mallorca after he took home victory at the Irish Challenge earlier this month, and he is now just one win away from earning automatic promotion to the DP World Tour.
“We’ll see about that,” he added. “Obviously it would be fantastic to win another one and get my card on the DP World Tour, but I’ve got to stay humble and play it shot by shot.”
Fellow Swede Jesper Sandborg finished in second place at eleven under par, while Lindberg shared third at ten under par with Englishman Jack Senior, one shot ahead of Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg and Lars Van Meijel of the Netherlands in fifth.
Lagergren’s victory lifts him to third place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings with 982 points, while Lindberg rises one spot to sixth after his third-place finish. Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen remains in pole position, with Englishman John Parry in second.
The next stop on the Road to Mallorca is the Rosa Challenge Tour, taking place from August 29 to September 1 at Rosa Golf Club in Poland.