Porsche European Open: Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin claims maiden tour win at age of 20
Tom McKibbin, 20, came into the final round of the Porsche European Open in Hamburg on Sunday in a six-way tie for the lead but held his nerve to see off his more experienced competition to win a first DP World Tour title by two shots
Sunday 4 June 2023 17:17, UK
Twenty-year-old Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin held his nerve to win his first DP World Tour title at the Porsche European Open on Sunday.
McKibbin carded a final round of 70 in Hamburg to finish nine under par, two shots ahead of home favourites Marcel Siem and Max Kieffer, and France's Julien Guerrier.
The 20-year-old, who learned the game at the same club as four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, began the day in a six-way tie for the lead but birdied the fourth, seventh and ninth to move two shots clear.
Bogeys on the 11th and 13th, coupled with Kieffer's birdie on the 16th, saw the pair tied at the top of the leaderboard, but McKibbin edged back in front with a birdie on the 15th and set up another on the par-five 18th with a nerveless second shot from 203 yards.
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McKibbin, who graduated from the Challenge Tour last year and was making just his 26th start on the DP World Tour, told Sky Sports: "It's pretty amazing.
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"It was just nice to go out there and put a really, really nice round together. I always thought I was good enough to win but to prove it today was pretty special.
"I've learned a lot from failures, missing cuts by a shot, missing things very slightly so to take all those things I've learned and put them into play today was really nice.
"It probably won't sink in until tomorrow but to have my dad here - he comes most weeks - is pretty special. To win in front of him is amazing."
Asked about his second shot to the 18th, McKibbin added: "It's probably one of the best shots I've hit.
"It was sort of tricky and it wasn't. I was trying to hit just at the right edge of the green and if it turned over I knew the water wasn't in play because if I turned it over it would have went further.
"It looked really good on camera I'm sure, but it was an easier shot than laying up and hitting over the water I thought."
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