Marcus Kinhult Wins British Masters

The young Swede finished birdie-birdie to lift his maiden European Tour title

Marcus Kinhult Wins British Masters

Marcus Kinhult finished birdie-birdie to win his maiden European Tour title at the British Masters.

Despite missing six of his last seven cuts, the 22-year-old Swede edged past Matt Wallace, defending champion Eddie Pepperell and Robert Macintyre on a beautiful day at Hillside.

Kinhult looks a real star of the future and is up to a career-high 112th in the world thanks to his victory.

He began the day tied for the lead with Matt Wallace but it was a four horse race towards the end, with Eddie Pepperell pushing hard with six birdies and no bogeys.

Wallace began with a bogey but three birdies followed in his next 10 and it did seem like he would pick up his fifth European Tour title.

However, an ultimately costly bogey at 12 followed before parring home.

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He would have been disappointed with a par at the par-5 17th, which he had birdied the first three days and Kinhult, Pepperell and Macintyre all picked up shots there on Sunday.

Macintyre went one better than a birdie with an eagle 3 at 17, and then also made a birdie 3 at the last to finish in that tie for second place.

It was the Scot’s best ever finish in an Official World Golf Ranking event and he is up to 191st, a career-best, in the rankings.

Kinhult looked like he was wilting under the pressure with bogeys at 15 and 16 but two clutch holes followed and his birdie-birdie finish made him very deserving of the victory.

“I’ve been dreaming about it for such a long time and to finally do it is sort of amazing,” the Swede said.

“It was so close all day between us. It was a bit like a match play between us – and then Bob and Eddie played well on the back nine today. They were up there, as well.

“But it was nice to play with Matt. He’s a great guy and a good competitor. So yeah, it was good fun.

“This is a very prestigious event and a nice little trophy to have. To get it as my first win is special.”

Tournament host Tommy Fleetwood closed with a one over par 73 to finish T8th.

Hillside made for a brilliant host for the 2019 Betfred British Masters, and the tournament will return next year at Close House with tournament host Lee Westwood.

The Newcastle venue hosted in 2017 and ranks inside our UK&I Top 100.

Watch – Kinhult’s winning round in three minutes

2019 Betfred British Masters Leaderboard –

1 Marcus Kinhult -16

T2 Matt Wallace, Eddie Pepperell, Robert Macintyre -15

5 Richie Ramsay -12

T6 Paul Waring, Jordan Smith -11

T8 Pablo Larrazabal, Martin Kaymer, Renato Paratore, Joost Luiten, Niklas Lemke, Oliver Wilson, Tommy Fleetwood -10