For immediate release
Date: Sunday June 4, 2023
Tournament: Porsche European Open
Race to Dubai: Tournament 24 of 44 events
Venue: Porsche Nord Course, Green Eagle Golf Courses, Hamburg, Germany
Prize Fund: US$2,000,000
Hashtag: #PEO2023 #DPWT
Galgorm Touring Professional Tom McKibbin held his nerve in Hamburg as he claimed his first DP World Tour title with a two-stroke victory at the Porsche European Open.
The Northern Irishman, just 20 years of age, produced a display of maturity beyond his years as he battled home favourites Max Kieffer and Marcel Siem for the title at Green Eagle Golf Courses as they were bidding to end a 15-year wait for the next German winner on home soil.
The trio shared the lead at one stage on the back nine, but McKibbin, who made the turn three under par, recovered from dropped shots on the 11th and 13th holes with a birdie on the 15th to move clear on eight under par.
Kieffer narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 18th which would have taken him to eight under, settling for a seven under par total. Siem joined him on that number with a birdie of his own on the 72nd hole, as did Frenchman Julien Guerrier who also shared second place.
McKibbin, who earned his card for 2023 after graduating from the European Challenge Tour, hit his drive on the 18th just right of the fairway, but then hit a nerveless five iron into the heart of the green, two-putting for birdie, a three under round of 70 and a nine under par total.
He joins Holywood Golf Club coursemate Rory McIlroy as a winner on the 2023 Race to Dubai after the four-time Major Champion’s triumph at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January.
Tournament title sponsors Porsche donated €120,000 to charities supporting Ukrainian aid projects in Hamburg as part of their Birdies for Charity initiative. In keeping with the sports car manufacturer’s 75th anniversary, €75 was donated for every birdie recorded across the four rounds.
A total of 1,359 birdies were carded during the tournament, amounting to €101,925, with Porsche rounding up the donation to €120,000. This will be split equally between JOBLINGE Hamburg and Hamburger Abendblatt hilft.
Player Quotes
Tom McKibbin: “I approached it the same as the first three days. The course is hard, the way I played the first three days was good enough so I thought if I played the same sort of golf and shot three or four under it might be enough. I knew going out it was such a hard golf course that you didn’t have to force loads of birdies and there wouldn’t be too many people going too low. That helped a bit. I played it the exact same and fortunately played a little bit better.
“(My hands on 18) were alright actually. I hit five iron. I picked a club I knew wouldn’t go in the water. I hit it right edge of the green and if it turned over I knew it would go further, so I had no worries. But it was such a good shot, it felt pretty amazing.”
“I’ve learned that I’m good enough to win. I always thought I was, but to prove it today was pretty special. I guess I’ve learned a lot from failures, missing cuts by a shot and missing things slightly. So to take those things I’ve learned and put them into play was nice.
Marcel Siem: “It was amazing. It was great. I’m just sad that the thing on 16 was still in my head so I couldn’t enjoy it 100 per cent unfortunately. But the people were amazing. I’ve never seen this in Germany before, or anywhere. The Open was great with spectators, but this was the best I’ve ever had. Thank you so much to all of the guys supporting me.”
Max Kieffer: “I had an amazing front nine, or the first 12 holes were absolutely amazing. I played really well, holed the putts I had to hole and I was totally in the zone. Unfortunately on 13 I bogeyed, which can happen, because it’s a very tough hole, and on 14 I three-putted. I left the first putt short, which was a bit stupid. But then I actually calmed down a little bit. I made a nice birdie on 16 and it’s a shame I couldn’t birdie 18. But overall it’s been a great day, it’s been really emotional. Great support from the crowd, I had lots of goosebumps today, it was awesome.”
Final Scores:
283 T MCKIBBIN (NIR) 72 69 72 70,
285 M KIEFFER (GER) 69 71 75 70, M SIEM (GER) 71 73 70 71, J GUERRIER (FRA) 72 74 67 72,
287 F LACROIX (FRA) 73 73 71 70,
288 J SMITH (ENG) 70 71 72 75, D LAW (SCO) 75 66 72 75, J AXELSEN (DEN) 77 67 69 75, A BJ?RK (SWE) 72 72 69 75,
290 R LANGASQUE (FRA) 73 75 74 68, R GOUVEIA (POR) 76 73 70 71, C SYME (SCO) 73 77 69 71, P WARING (ENG) 71 72 72 75,
291 B EASTON (RSA) 77 69 76 69, F LAPORTA (ITA) 74 74 74 69, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 73 74 73 71, R MACINTYRE (SCO) 76 68 74 73, F SCHOTT (GER) 71 75 72 73, E FERGUSON (SCO) 71 72 72 76,
292 M PAVON (FRA) 75 74 72 71, S TARRIO (ESP) 71 72 73 76,
293 K SAMOOJA (FIN) 75 71 76 71, J SCHAPER (RSA) 76 74 72 71, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 75 70 76 72, K JOHANNESSEN (NOR) 70 73 77 73, J LUITEN (NED) 70 74 75 74, A SADDIER (FRA) 75 71 71 76, M JORDAN (ENG) 73 73 71 76,
294 R MANSELL (ENG) 76 73 77 68, J PARRY (ENG) 74 76 72 72, S JAMIESON (SCO) 75 70 75 74, J BRUN (FRA) 71 73 73 77,
295 T PULKKANEN (FIN) 75 73 76 71, S FORSSTR?M (SWE) 69 77 77 72, R HOSHINO (JPN) 77 73 73 72, A HIDALGO (ESP) 75 75 72 73, H LONG (GER) 73 73 75 74, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 76 73 72 74,
296 E MOLINARI (ITA) 74 73 75 74, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 74 75 70 77, C SORDET (FRA) 73 70 75 78, A DEL REY (ESP) 73 76 69 78, J WALTERS (RSA) 75 72 70 79,
297 T OLESEN (DEN) 76 74 76 71, R PARATORE (ITA) 72 75 75 75, A GARCIA-HEREDIA (ESP) 74 76 72 75, M GRADECKI (POL) 80 70 72 75, N N?RGAARD (DEN) 73 77 72 75, R CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 76 73 72 76, W NIENABER (RSA) 75 71 71 80, J KO (FRA) 74 73 70 80,
298 M HELLIGKILDE (DEN) 70 79 78 71, A WILSON (ENG) 74 74 76 74, J VEERMAN (USA) 76 73 75 74, M BALDWIN (ENG) 73 70 80 75, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 73 74 76 75, M LORENZO-VERA (FRA) 73 73 76 76, A ROZNER (FRA) 75 74 73 76,
299 A FITZPATRICK (ENG) 75 74 80 70, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 76 69 80 74, M SCHMITT (GER) 76 74 74 75, R H?JGAARD (DEN) 76 73 74 76, D HUIZING (NED) 76 74 72 77, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 80 70 69 80,
300 U COUSSAUD (FRA) 74 76 73 77,
301 O LENGDEN (SWE) 73 74 78 76, Y PAUL (GER) 77 73 74 77, D GERMISHUYS (RSA) 75 72 74 80,
302 M HAMMER (GER) 74 76 75 77,
303 A ARNAUS (ESP) 74 74 78 77,
304 Z LOMBARD (RSA) 78 70 78 78,
306 J DE BRUYN (GER) 71 79 77 79, J LEE (USA) 73 77 74 82,
308 L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 73 77 83 75, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 74 76 82 76, R MCEVOY (ENG) 75 75 79 79,
**
OUT S CROCKER (USA) 73 75 DQ, C HILL (SCO) 72 74 WD, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 73 72 WD,
**
151 A ALBERS (GER) 75 76, O BEKKER (RSA) 81 70, N ELVIRA (ESP) 72 79, C HANNA (USA) 75 76, N LEMKE (SWE) 73 78,
152 R SANTOS (POR) 76 76, R HISATSUNE (JPN) 78 74, O WILSON (ENG) 81 71, D WHITNELL (ENG) 73 79, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 78 74, S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 78 74, D HORSEY (ENG) 78 74, D RAVETTO (FRA) 77 75, J SENIOR (ENG) 75 77,
153 E CUARTERO BLANCO (ESP) 78 75, B WINDRED (AUS) 78 75, C MIVIS (BEL) 75 78, O STRYDOM (RSA) 78 75, A KNAPPE (GER) 78 75, D HOWELL (ENG) 75 78, R CARON (NED) 76 77, K REITAN (NOR) 77 76, G STAL (FRA) 78 75, V MEYER (GER) 75 78, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 77 76, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 76 77, J MURPHY (IRL) 74 79,
154 A IWASAKI (JPN) 75 79, T AIKEN (RSA) 79 75, L DE JAGER (RSA) 80 74, M LINDBERG (SWE) 79 75, T CLEMENTS (ENG) 77 77, J RITCHIE (RSA) 79 75, R FISHER (ENG) 75 79, J JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 76 78, J DONALDSON (WAL) 77 77, D BROWN (ENG) 76 78,
155 G KRISTJANSSON (ISL) 77 78, S HUTSBY (ENG) 77 78, G WIEBE (USA) 79 76, G GREEN (MAS) 75 80, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 76 79,
156 A LEVY (FRA) 75 81, J GUMBERG (USA) 76 80, N BACHEM (GER) 77 79, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 78 78, O HUNDEB?LL (DEN) 74 82,
157 Y KIM (KOR) 79 78, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 75 82,
158 J FREIBURGHAUS (SUI) 77 81, P PINEAU (FRA) 83 75, D HILLIER (NZL) 80 78, G FORREST (SCO) 78 80, J STALTER (FRA) 82 76, Y SCHUETZ (GER) 79 79, M ROTTLUFF (GER) 75 83,
159 T STRYDOM (RSA) 81 78, M SCHMID (GER) 82 77, C BRING (DEN) 79 80, T CHRISTENSEN (AM) (GER) 80 79, M WARREN (SCO) 78 81, M GANDAS (IND) 73 86, T TILLMANNS (AM) (GER) 77 82,
160 J WANG (KOR) 80 80, R ENOCH (WAL) 84 76, J CATLIN (USA) 81 79, H LI (CHN) 82 78, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 80 80,
161 J DANTORP (SWE) 81 80,
162 M CHENGYAO (CHN) 79 83,
164 T ED?N (SWE) 85 79,
170 M KIBUGU (KEN) 91 79,
**
OUT L NEMECZ (AUT) 76 RT, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 75 WD, D BRADBURY (ENG) 82 WD, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 81 WD,