In a week where Paul Waring won his maiden European Tour title at his 200th attempt after a play off victory over Thomas Aiken in the Nordea Masters, Thorbjørn Olesen moved into the automatic qualification spots for this year’s European Ryder Cup side.
The Dane, who has been in great form since his victory at the Italian Open, finished in solo fourth after rounds 68, 66, 67 and 67 to finish 12 under par for the tournament – two back of Waring and Aiken.
This high finish saw Olesen, nicknamed “Thunderbear,” leapfrog Ian Poulter into the final qualifying spot on the World Points List and, with just two European Tour events left before the first eight players are confirmed, Olesen will look to remain there.
After his Italian Open win, a Rolex Series event, Olesen has a further four T6 or better finishes including a tie for second at the BMW International Open and a T3 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, as well as a T12 finish at The Open.
As it stands, Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood make up the four players qualifying on the European Points List. Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren and Olesen make up the following four players on the World Points List.
The European Tour heads to Prague for the D+D REAL Czech Masters this week, before the final qualifying event at the Made In Denmark Tournament a week later.
In addition to his eight qualifiers, Thomas Bjørn will have four further wildcard selections the following week to join his team at Le Golf National.
This gives the likes of Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Russell Knox, Eddie Pepperell and Poulter, who are all on the bubble, just two weeks to make up the required points, otherwise they will be relying on a wildcard pick from captain Bjørn.
