Thorbjørn Olesen held off a late charge from World’s No. 22 and Ryder Cup star, France’s Victor Dubuisson, and won the European Tour’s ISPS Handa Perth International by three strokes.
The 24-year-old born in Furesø, Denmark, fired a five-under 67 in Saturday's third round to take a three-shot lead into the final day at Lake Karrinyup Country Club at 16-under. Dubuisson’s 70 on Saturday meant he was five shots behind at 11-under in a tie for 13th and had a lot of ground to make up.
Olesen opened the door for challengers when, after being bogey-free on the front-nine the previous three rounds, he bogeyed the 454-yards par-4 sixth hole, and later dropped shots on the 10th and 12th holes to go to one-over for his round.
His first challenge on the day came from South Korean Sihwan Kim, who needed a top two finish to retain his European Tour card for 2015, but his ship set sail after he triple-bogeyed the 612-yards par-five seventh hole. Kim would finish T9th.
Dubuisson had three previous round of 71, 67 and 70. But on Sunday he fired a bogey-free round, that included birdies on the first and seventh holes in his front nine and then at four of the first six holes on the back nine to get within two shots of Olesen.
But Dubuisson’s final round of six-under 66 was not good enough to get to Olesen, who was cool, calm and collected and did not drop a shot over the final six holes of his round, making birdie on the 13th and 15th holes, to claim claiming his second European Tour win.
His first tournament win was more than two years ago at the 2012 Sicilian Open. But more significant is the fact that he claimed the first prize of € 198,300, which importantly thrusts him well inside the top 60 for the Race to Dubai having started on Thursday in 64th spot.
Olesen’s total score card of 17-under 271 is the lowest for the tournament in its three years, beating Bo Van Pelt's 16-under in 2012 and Jin Jeong's 10-under in 2013.
Dubuisson finished in solo second at 14-under 274, while Englishman Mark Foster completed a trifecta for the Europeans, with a final round of three-under 69 to finish at 12-under par in solo third.
Victorian Matthew Griffin carded an impressive final round of five-under par 67 to finish the tournament at 11-under in a tie for fourth place and earning a € 43,405 pay day. He was joined in fourth place by West Australian Stephen Dartnall (70), Denmark’s Lucas Bjerrgaard (70), Scotland’s David Drysdale (71) and Englishman James Morrison (73).
Rounding up the Top 10 finishers was a crowded six-player tie for ninth place at 10-under 278 and a € 21,695 pay day.
That group was led by Australian Wade Ormsby, who finish with a furious rally by birdieing holes 10 thru 15 and the 17th on his way to a 30 on the back-nine and finish with a six-under 66 on Sunday. His countryman Ryan Fox had four birdies on the back-nine and carded a five-under 67 to join him in ninth-place.
Last year’s Challenge Tour winner, Italy’s Andrea Pavan (70), Australian Richard Green (72), American Peter Uihlein (73) and South Korean Sihwan Kim (75) also finished in the tie for ninth.
Second-round leader Peter Whiteford struggled on his way to a 6-over 78 and he finished tied for 35th at 3-under 285. John Wade, who was tied with Olesen atop the leaderboard after round one, shot his third straight round in the 70s with a 77 and he ended tied for 53rd at even-par 288.
Kim and Whiteford needed to finish second or better in order to keep their tour cards and failed on that attempt. American Jsaon Dufner, playing in his first event since withdrawing from the PGA Championship with a neck injury, carded a final round of one-over 73 and finished T23rd at six-under 282.
The top 111 in the Race to Dubai standings keep their tour cards next year. Next week, the European Tour kicks off the Final Series at the BMW Masters in China, where Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won last year.