Danish delight as Hojgaard wins Himmerland playoff

Rasmus Hojgaard overturned a six-stroke deficit on Sunday and beat Nacho Elvira in a playoff to become the first Danish winner of the Made in Himmerland event.

Hojgaard stormed up the leaderboard with a final round of 64 that included seven birdies and one bogey, reeling in Elvira after the Spaniard shot an even-par 70.

Richie Ramsay's hopes of victory evaporated with a disastrous double bogey on the 18th hole, the Scot ending a shot back of Hojgaard and Elvira who needed six extra holes to determine the winner.

Elvira blinked first as he hit a shot out of bounds to effectively give the 22-year-old Hojgaard the title, his fourth on the European Tour.

"I'm speechless at the moment," said Hojgaard, who strengthened his case for a Ryder Cup spot.

"To be fair, I didn't think I'd end up in a playoff – it's quite amazing. To win a home event, it's amazing.

"This is better than I could ever dream of," he added.

"We've wanted a Danish winner for so long now, so to be the first one to do it is amazing."

LEADING FINAL-ROUND SCORES

Hojgaard won at the sixth playoff hole

267 - Rasmus Hojgaard (DEN) 68 70 65 64, Ignacio Elvira (ESP) 69 62 66 70 268 - Richie Ramsay 70 64 65 69

269 - Robert MacIntyre 64 68 66 71, Kalle Samooja (FIN) 72 66 64 67, Alexander Bjork (SWE) 71 68 63 67, Marc Warren 70 64 67 68

270 - Ross Fisher 66 67 71 66, Ryo Hisatsune (JPN) 69 68 67 66

271 - Marcel Siem (GER) 71 64 67 69, Matthew Southgate 73 65 72 61, Johannes Veerman (USA) 67 71 69 64, Daan Huizing (NED) 67 68 66 70, Nathan Kimsey 71 67 67 66, Freddy Schott (GER) 71 64 68 68, Darren Fichardt (RSA) 72 66 66 67