Thomas Pieters won the Portugal Masters by two shots after firing a final round 68 at Dom Pedro Victoria for a 19-under par total.
The 29-year-old Belgian started the final day in a share of the lead with Matthieu Pavon, but the Frenchman was cruising after the first 11 holes, holding a two-stroke lead as the pair stood on the 12th tee. However, Pavon, chasing a maiden European Tour title, found the water twice on the par five, eventually carding a triple-bogey eight, while Pieters birdied for a four-stroke swing, moving to 19 under .
Pieters recovered from a bogey on 14 with a birdie on the par-five 17 and then rolled in a par putt on the 18th hole from 20 feet for a two-stroke victory, his first since the Czech Masters in 2019.
The win moves Pieters up to to 29th on the Race to Dubai rankings, securing his place in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship Dubai in two weeks’ time.
“It feels really amazing,” said Pieters, who now has five European Tour wins on his CV. “It has felt like a long time between victories, even though it has only been a couple of seasons, but I’ve worked so hard, I felt like I deserve this one. It’s never easy coming down the stretch. I knew I needed a birdie on the last two and that five-iron into the green on 17 was one my best ones. The feeling you get when you hit a shot like that is amazing – that’s why I play golf. And the par putt on the last was fantastic. I really fancied it, it was the perfect speed and it was nice to see it go in.”
Sharing second with Pavon were the Danish pair of Lucas Bjerregaard and Nicolai Højgaard. Højgaard was chasing his second European Tour victory in the space of just six starts, while Bjerregaard shored up his position inside the top 100 on the rankings, securing playing privileges for next season at the 11th hour.
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