Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg won the Turkish Airlines Open by two strokes to wrap up his first DP World Tour title and consequently secure a maiden Major start at the upcoming PGA Championship.
His 10-under total highlighted just how difficult scoring had been at the new venue, with Lindberg’s opening round 66 remaining the outright lowest effort all week long.
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A fine week in Turkiye followed on from his previous best finish on the DP World Tour the tournament prior where the 33-year-old ended solo third at the Volvo China Open.
And his sparkling conclusion to the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing arrived at the perfect time, too, with Lindberg ousting Jordan Gumberg from the top of the rankings to earn a bonus check for $200,000.
Not only that, but Lindberg, Gumberg and Bernd Wiesberger all booked their spots at the PGA Championship in two weeks’ time due to finishing in the top-three places of the Asian Swing rankings. For Lindberg, it will be his Major championship debut.
Asked how he felt coming down the final hole with so much on the line, including a winner’s check for almost $500,000, Lindberg was perhaps a little too honest.
He said: “My feelings on this last hole, I almost felt I wanted to throw up.”
Fighting back tears, the 13-year pro also went on to say: “This is a dream come true, I’ve been dreaming about this for so many years.
“I was in the lead after the first round and I just felt like… 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.
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“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, yeah.”
It was an extremely tense and tight final round of the Turkish Airlines Open, with both 54-hole co-leaders – Lindberg and Rodrigues – making birdie at the first.
However, the Swede bogeyed the third before his Portuguese rival made another gain at the fourth. That moment sparked an impressive response from Lindberg, who birdied the fourth, fifth and seventh to regain the lead.
Fifth birdie of the day! Mikael Lindberg returns to -10 and now has a two-shot lead 💪#TurkishAirlinesOpen pic.twitter.com/u0ysBiRFRGMay 3, 2026
Lindberg remained in front despite both he and Rodrigues dropping a shot at the ninth, later settling and extending his advantage to a couple of shots with a birdie at the 13th.
Another gain at the very next hole was matched by Rodrigues as the rain and wind really began to take a hold of proceedings.
A bogey for Lindberg at the par-4 15th threatened to blow the tournament wide open, only for Rodrigues to suffer the same fate moments later and re-establish the Swede’s two-stroke cushion.
Realising a dream 😍Mikael Lindberg wins in Türkiye and also claims the Asian Swing title and books his place at the US PGA Championship!#TurkishAirlinesOpen pic.twitter.com/Td5EJwmxF0May 3, 2026
Pars were celebrated over the final few holes, and Lindberg managed to remain steady coming home to complete the job over a disappointed field.
Rodrigues shared second place with Italy’s Guido Migliozzi on eight-under ahead of Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, The Netherlands’ Darius Van Driel and Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen in tied-fourth (-7).
Second-round leader Gregorio De Leo faltered late on to end on six-under and share seventh with Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia. The top-10 was completed by Ugo Coussaud, JC Ritchie, Marcus Armitage and Kota Kaneko on five-under.