Danish pair Soren Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Olesen has won the World Cup of Golf title by four shots. It is Denmark's first victory in the 63-year history of the event.
Kjeldsen and Olesen secured the heaviest trophy in golf with a fourball final round of five under 66 to reach 20 under, which was enough to keep a host of keen pursuers at bay.
France, China and the United States all had their chances to catch the Danish duo but ultimately could not make up the deficit and shared second place at 16 under. The fast-finishing Sweden fired a 10 under 62 to storm into outright fifth place at 15 under.
Denmark’s best previous finish in the World Cup was in 2001 at the Taiheiyo Club in Japan when Thomas Bjorn and Soren Hansen were tied second when beaten in a play-off by Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
For Kjeldsen, this was his sixth World Cup campaign and to now hoist the Hopkins trophy with Olesen was “amazing”.
“It has been an absolutely incredible week,” he said. “I have enjoyed the camaraderie with Thorbjorn and I have been so impressed by his game and his attitude.
“We’ve had a great time and that reflects in the golf and the score.”
Kjeldsen and Olesen began the final round with a four-shot buffer over the field but were treading water for the front nine. They birdied the par-3 6th but handed it back two holes later. They reached the turn at even par for the day, which was the equal worst score of any team in the field at the halfway mark on Sunday.
This flat start gave the chasers some hope. Frenchmen Victor Dubuisson and Romain Langasque made up five shots in nine-hole to get within two of the Danes. American duo Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker were both riding cold putters but they maintained a presence just two shots back for much of the outward nine. The surprise packet of the Cup, China, pulled within one shot midway through the round courtesy of some terrific ball-striking from both Ashun Wu and Li Haotong.
But the threat of being chased down seemed to spur the Danes into action and two shots was the closest any team would get to Kjeldsen and Olesen.
Kjeldsen kick started the Danish surge towards the title with a birdie at the 10th. Olesen followed at the next with a birdie of his own for the Danes to get to 16 under.
They missed an opportunity to increase their lead at the par-5 12th but it didn’t matter as Olesen went on a hot streak reeling of birdies at 13, 14 and 15. His effort at the par-3 15th was brilliant. With Kjeldsen finding a cavernous bunker right of the green with his tee shot, Olesen calmly took dead aim at the flag. It was a nerveless tee shot that finished 15 feet from the cup and he rolled in the putt to get Denmark to 19 under. From that point it was Denmark’s cup to lose.
The Danes were able to enjoy the walk down the 18th fairway with a three-stroke lead, which Olesen extended to four by walking in a birdie putt from nearly 20 feet. The closing birdie saw the Danes rattle home with six birdies on the back nine for a 66 and put an exclamation mark on a dominating performance, which had its foundations laid in the 12 under 60 they conjured up in the second round.
“The psychology has been really interesting for me because when you play your own game it’s for you, but when you’ve got a guy like this [pointing at Thorbjorn) on the back nine on Sunday, you feel you want to die for the guy … it’s different." – Soren Kjeldsen.
“It definitely got close there for a while but we both played pretty solid on the back nine and gave ourselves a lot of chances,” Olesen said.
Kjeldsen said this team victory felt very different to playing in a larger team, which he has done in the EurAsia Trophy.
“This is very different … two guys out there playing for each other,” he said.
“The psychology has been really interesting for me because when you play your own game it’s for you, but when you’ve got a guy like this [pointing at Thorbjorn) on the back nine on Sunday, you feel you want to die for the guy … it’s different.
“That has been really interesting to feel. I get the sense of why teams get so together when they play well, but I have never really experienced that before this week.
“I really enjoyed that and that team feeling is amazing because we don’t get that very often.”
For the Aussie pair of Marc Leishman and Adam Scott, they left their best until last as they combined for an eight under 64 that elevated them into a tie for ninth alongside Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell from Ireland.
But it was all a bit too late for the pre-tournament favourites, who did well to bounce back after dropping to third last at one stage early in the second round.
Rickie Fowler plays from the rough during the final round, which saw the Americans not quite on song from tee to green. PHOTO: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.
Their opening round 74 in the foursomes meant they were always looking to try and make up lost ground on the leaders. By the end of day two, with the Danish reaching 12 under and some 10 shots in front, the writing was on the wall for Scott and Leishman, who struggled to convert many of their best shots into birdies.
They were obviously frustrated at burning the edge of the cup for three days but they began to find their range in the closing round. Birdies at 3, 5 and 8 – mixed with three near misses – had the Australians moving into the top-10.
Scott hit one of his best short irons of the week at the 10th, which saw his ball nestle within three feet of the hole. He tidied up for the birdie to get the Australians within six of the lead at eight under.
Leishman birdied the 13th and 14th holes from close range, while Scott chimed in with one of his own at the par-3 15th after hitting his tee shot to just three feet.
Their eighth and final birdie of the bogey-free round came at the last with Leishman holing a 15-footer from the right edge of the massive green.
Even a round to match the Dane’s second round 60 was never going to be enough for the Aussies.
“It was nice to finally see a few putts drop and some red numbers on the leaderboard,” Leishman said. “So definitely a lot more enjoyable out there today when you can play like that.
“You know, unfortunate that we couldn't start that on Thursday, but it's something to build towards for next week.”
Scott added: “Even daring to dream we birdie the whole back nine, it wasn't going to be enough.
“We needed a faster start and we didn't go out and birdie the first three or anything like that. Just tried to play the best we could from there on in. And a few went in, but there were a few squirrely ones out there as well.
“Both of us will be looking to kind of clean that up before we play next week.
While the Aussies have one more week of competition before taking breaks, Kjeldsen and Olesen are done for the year. Olesen, in some way, might be disappointed his year is over given his good form has earned him more than A$3.2 in his last two starts.
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