Richard Sterne ends 13-year DP World Tour wait with victory in Belgium

Sterne ends 13-year DP World Tour wait with victory in Belgium

Richard Sterne played one of the shots of his life to claim his first DP World Tour title in 13 years at the 2026 Soudal Open.

Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2026 Soudal Open

Trailing countryman Zander Lombard for most of the day, the South African timed his attack to perfection, making a stunning eagle at the 17th hole to move to 18 under par and go atop of a stacked leaderboard at Rinkven International Golf Club.

The challenge was too much to ask for the chasing pack, with the 44-year-old’s round of 66 enough to register his first win since the 2013 Joburg Open some 4,851 days ago.

The now seven-time DP World Tour winner has overcome his fair share of injuries in the years since, undergoing three wrist operations, a disc replacement and hip surgery, with his story one of resilience and perseverance.

Sterne’s win marks the sixth by a South African on the 2026 Race to Dubai, following two each for Jayden Schaper and Casey Jarvis and Yurav Premlall’s success at the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship.

“I thought I was still behind (on 17), I thought Zander was still on 19 (under) – I wasn’t really looking at boards, to be honest.

“It was a long way for me, I had a five wood in the bag, it was 276 and I needed to hit a little draw on there to get the distance. It just came out… pic.twitter.com/HUODQxaju4

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 24, 2026

Marcus Kinhult led a large group to finish in a share of second at 16 under, the Swede holing a long putt at the last for his seventh birdie in a bogey-free 64.

Englishman Marcus Armitage signed for a 66 to join him, as did Frenchman Victor Perez, while Kota Kaneko, Jorge Campillo and Jacob Skov Olesen rounded out those two shots behind the winner.

Lombard and compatriot MJ Daffue were a further shot back, alongside Ben Schmidt, Nathan Kimsey and Gregorio De Leo at 15 under par.

Amateur Anthony De Schutter finished the week as the leading Belgian at nine under, achieving his goal afront of an incredible home crowd.

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