Darius van Driel has termed his maiden DP World Tour title in Kenya a ‘dream come true’.
The Dutchman fired a scintillating round of 67 at the Magical Kenya Open to win the coveted title after leading from Thursday through Sunday.
In winning the coveted title, Van Driel pocketed Sh60,993,659.94 (€392,570.38) while joint runners-ups Joe Dean (England) and Nacho Elvira (Spain) bagged Sh31,035,008.34 (€199,749.04) each.
The win moves Van Driel to sixth on the prestigious ‘Race to Dubai’ Rankings and eighth on the International Swing, which resumed in Kenya this week.
Van Driel was all smiles after holing a birdie on the par 5 18th. “It means a lot... it’s a dream come true,” said an emotional Van Driel. “I saw that everybody was around ten (under) and Manuel (Elvira) was also around there so in my head, it was a bit of one-on-one. Hitting an eagle and him making par (on the tenth) made a bit of a difference. That was a good one.”
“I thought 17 is a reasonable birdie hole, 18 is a good birdie or eagle opportunity so I thought in my head maybe 12, 13 (under wins) so
if I can get to 14, I’m pretty safe. That was the number I had in my head at the start of the round as well.”
Van Driel has played in the Kenya Open since 2016, when the event counted towards the second-tier European Challenge Tour.
And despite not winning in Kenya since, the 34-year-old’s golfing journey has been a remarkable one. He won the Order of Merit in his maiden season and then graduated from the European Challenge Tour in 2019, the same season he lost in the final of the Belgian Knockout to former Kenya Open winner Guido Migliozzi on the DP World Tour.
Scottish pair of Ewen and Connor Syme finished at ten under, one clear of South African Deon Germishuys and Frenchman Jeong weon Ko, whose closing 64 was the lowest round of the week.
Nacho’s brother Manuel tied for fourth with Matthew Jordan (England) and Adrian Otaegui (Spain) eleven-under par 273.
Leaderboard -Top 10
1 Darius Van Driel, (Ned )-4 18 66 69 68 67= 270 (-14)
2 Joe Dean, (Eng) 68, 69, 68, 67 =272 (-12)
2 Nacho Elvira, (Esp) 69, 69 ,68, 66 =272 (12)
4 Elvira Manue, (Esp) 70 66 67 70 =273 (-11)
4 Matthew Jordan, (Eng) 74 65 68 66 =273 (-11)
4 Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 69 70 69 65 =273 (-11)
7 Connor Syme (Sco) 67 68 70 69 =274 ( -10)
7 Ewen Ferguson, (Sco) 69 67 70 68 =274 (-10)
9 Deon Germishuys, (Rsa) 71 66 69 69 =275 ( -9)
9 Jeong Weon Ko (Fra) 18 -9 72, 67, 72, 64 =275 (-7 )