A late birdie surge from Jonny Caldwell moved him up into the top 60 on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca rankings for the first time this season. Signing off with birdies on his last three holes, Caldwell carded closing a two-under-par 69 to finish just outside the top 20 at the Indoor Golf Group Challenge at Landeryds Golfklubb in Sweden.
After claiming the Christy O’Connor trophy as leading Irish professional at last months Irish Challenge and with it a lucrative start at next weeks Horizon Irish Open, the Clandeboye professional will look to continue his recent form on the Challenge Tour with a strong showing at The K Club.
At the head of affairs, Maximilian Rottluff secured a second win of the European Challenge Tour season with a dominant performance on the final day of .
The German impressed on his way to a six under par final round 65 to go with rounds of 68-64-66 to reach 21 under par for the week and win by three strokes ahead of Dane Jeppe Kristian Andersen and Swede Jesper Svensson.
The 30-year-old, who adds victory in Sweden to a maiden Challenge Tour win which came in the UAE Challenge at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in May, climbs to ninth in the Road to Mallorca Rankings and into a strong position to earn promotion to the DP World Tour.
Rottluff was delighted to win for a second time in the calendar year and to move one step closer to achieving promotion.
“It was a lot of golf this weekend but it feels great,” he said. “It’s phenomenal, and I’m very happy. I’ve been playing some really good golf lately so this feels amazing.
“The win in Abu Dhabi was a milestone as it got me closer to the goals I set for myself this season, and this win gets me that bit closer again.
“This obviously helps for the rest of the season. I haven’t done the maths yet, but I think with two wins I’m getting close to a safe number of points. The Rankings are definitely on your mind when you’re playing.”
Rottluff returned on Sunday three strokes behind overnight leader Andersen and with eight holes still to play of his third round following a weather-affected week in Sweden. He would go on to birdie two of his final three holes to cut the gap at the top to one.
The German would then fire six birdies and no bogeys in a front-nine 29 to jump into a four-stroke lead at the turn. Further gains came at the 13th and 15th, and despite a double bogey at 17, Rottluff parred the last to secure a memorable win which also included a hole-in-one earlier in the week.
“I felt like I gave myself a look at birdie on every hole,” he added. “I don’t know how many greens I missed in regulation but it wasn’t many. The hole-in-one the other day was a bonus but I’ve hit it really nicely all week.
“I hit good iron shots, good wedges, and good putts, and I drove the ball nicely around here too. For some reason I feel like this golf course gets as close to Saadiyat as we’re probably going to see in Europe this summer.”
Charlie Lindh from Sweden and Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen finished four shots off the lead, sharing fourth on 17 under par, with Englishman Tom Lewis and Swede David Nyfjall one shot further back in sixth on 16 under par.
The top five places in the Road to Mallorca Rankings remain the same with South African Casey Jarvis retaining his position as Number One. Svensson climbs three places to seventh with a second-place finish in his home country.
Dermot McElroy was the only other Irish player to make the cut in Sweden and he carded a final round 72 to finish the week in a tie for 73rd.
The Challenge Tour now heads to Spain for the Challenge de España at Club de Golf Playa Serena from 7-10 September.
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