Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren claimed the Saudi Open presented by PIF after a gripping duel with Australian Jack Thompson at Dirab Golf & Country Club.

Having played together in the same group all week, Hellgren edged it by one shot after closing with a five-under-par 67 to finish on 23-under.

Thompson, tied with Hellgren at the start of the day, shot a 68 in the season-ending event on the Asian Tour.

The Swede led by one playing the par-five 18th, where Thompson narrowly missed his eagle putt from 30 feet. He made four, meaning Hellgren needed to draw on all his experience to hole his birdie putt from six feet, which he duly did for his maiden victory on the Asian Tour.

Malaysian Ervin Chang and Charles Porter from the United States tied for third, three strokes behind Thompson. Chang shot a 68 to complete a remarkable week that saw him move from 75th to 41st on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, which sees the top-65 keep their cards for next year. Porter, a graduate from this year’s Qualifying School, closed with a 69.

The other big winner was Japan’s Kazuki Higa who wrapped up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title. He closed with a 68 to finish seventh, ensuring he ended comfortably ahead of Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe in second place. Vincent tied for 15th following a 68, having needed to win or finish second in order to topple Higa, who’s the first Japanese to win the Merit title.

Victory for Hellgren atones for what has been a testing few seasons playing on the Asian Tour.

He arrived in Asia in 2020 with an impressive resume that included multiple wins in Scandinavia as an amateur and professional. He’d also roomed with American Brooks Koepka when playing college golf at Florida State University.

He finishing tied ninth at Qualifying School in 2020 but only competed in one event before play was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When play resumed on Tour he did not quite make the impression that was expected of him, with his best result a tie for third in the 2022 Yeangder TPC.

Even before last week he admitted to being exhausted after a long stretch on Tour. He said a holiday with his family in Spain over the past few weeks helped him get back on track.

“Super happy,” said the winner. “I mean, finally. I’m not going to say I was doubting myself, but I’ve been leading tournaments before in this past five years, and never got it done before. I couldn’t have done it without Graham, my caddie. He kept me calm and present. I’m very proud of myself, my team, and especially my family that keep pushing me.”

Hellgren and Thompson were tied at the turn, but the Australian missed a short putt on the 10th to hand the lead to his opponent. Hellgren then had a lucky break on the par-four 11th. After finding trouble off the tee, he had to lay up with his second, before his third, which was going long, hit the pin leaving him a seven-footer for par. He made it to stay ahead.

He then struck his approach to within a foot on the following hole for birdie which gave him a two-shot lead after Thompson missed his birdie from 10 feet. A birdie on 17 by Thompson closed the gap to one before a play-off was narrowly avoided on the last.

Hellgren, who finished sixth on the Merit list, added: “We had an amazing four days. His (Thompson’s) caddie is a good friend of mine who stayed with me this week, Adrian. I’m really happy for Jack also, because he had a good week, kept his job. When we were signing scorecards, I said I couldn’t have done it without him. And I was pretty sure if he made that putt on 18, mine would have been way longer.”

Hellgren is the eighth Swede to win on the Asian Tour since 2004 and the first since Malcolm Kokocinski won the AB Bank Bangladesh Open in 2018.

Thompson was among those in Saudi with the main aim of keeping his card for next year, as he was 62nd on the Merit. He emphatically did that, finishing 21st on the list.

“It’s a tough one,” said Thompson, who birdied three in a row from the third to have the lead early on. “I started off pretty well. I didn’t hit the ball anywhere near good enough today, but just scrambled so well, made some good birdies, holed some good putts. Also missed a couple putts.

“At the end of that, I can’t really complain. If you’d told me I’d finish second at the start of the week, I would have been pretty happy. But we obviously want more. Always want more.”

Chang was overjoyed with his best finish on the Asian Tour.

“Honestly speaking, I woke up at 3 am couldn’t go back to sleep. Just knowing what’s at stake, and knowing a top-10 finish guaranteed me a card for next year,” said the former Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medallist.

The other players to narrowly stay in the top 65 in the Merit standings were Chinese-Taipei’s Hung Chien-yao (60th), Filipino Justin Quiban (61st), Pakistan’s Ahmad Baig (62nd), and Thai Sarut Vongchaisit (64th).