Mikael Lindberg not only won his first DP World Tour event on Sunday, but he earned his first major-championship berth in the process.
Lindberg, a 33-year-old from Sweden, captured the Turkish Airlines Open by two shots over Portgual’s Daniel Rodrigues and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi at National Golf Club in Belek, Turkey. Lindberg’s victory also pushed him atop the DPWT’s Asian Swing rankings, securing him a trip to Aronimink in two weeks for the PGA Championship.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for so many years,” Linberg said. “My feelings on this last hole, I almost felt dizzy, and I almost felt I wanted to throw up.”
Joining Lindberg in the PGA field are Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and American Jordan Gumberg.
Lindberg opened the week with a 6-under 66 and then entered Sunday’s final round tied for the lead with Rodrigues, a former standout at Texas A&M. But Lindberg raced ahead with four birdies in his first seven holes before the weather turned difficult on the second nine.
A bogey at the 15th hole dropped Lindberg back to 10 under, just a shot clear of Rodrigues, though Rodrigues followed with a bogey at the next and Lindberg parred out to win.
“I don’t know how to describe this, but it’s been mentally very tough pretty much the whole week, so it’s very nice to pull it off,” Lindberg said. “The weather on the front nine was actually a lot better than I expected, so I felt like I took advantage of that a little bit. It’s been a very tough last few holes, but the last one was definitely tough.”