Christian Nilsson wins the Saint-Omer Open

Sweden's Christian Nilsson won his first ever professional tournament with a six shot victory in the Saint-Omer Open.

Sweden's Christian Nilsson won his first ever professional tournament with a six shot victory in the Saint-Omer Open.

While most of the golf world were concentrating on the US open in New York, the European tour was continuing with the strong>Saint-Omer Open in France, and as with many of the recent events, it was a first-time winner who took the biggest cheque.

Nilsson took home the trophy and top prize money with a faultless 69 in his final round. That allowed him to improve his lead to a six shot margin as he comfortably completed the last few holes and was able to bask in the glory of his win.

“I was very nervous this morning and I didn’t sleep that well last night either. I was just trying to focus on how I was going to play, but so many thoughts were going round my head at the same time. So I was extremely pleased with how I handled the pressure today. I’m just so, so happy,” said Nilsson.

Nilsson who was runner up in the same event last year, held off Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima who finished with a 68. England's Richard McEvoy manged to improve to an overall position of 3rd with a great round of 67, while Spain's Javier Colomo had the best final round with a 66 to tie for 3rd, ten shots off the leader.

But the day was Nilsson's who now has a tour exemption for the rest of this season and the entire of next year.

He admitted: “That’s very important, because it means I’m going to get into all the big tournaments for the rest of the year, and allows me to plan my schedule for next season too. I had a tough start to the year, but now that's in the past, and I can look to the future.”

Thomas Patrick Clarke
Sports Digital Editor


Tom Clarke joined Golf Monthly as a sub editor in 2009 being promoted to content editor in 2012 and then senior content editor in 2014, before becoming Sports Digital Editor for the Sport Vertical within Future in 2022. Tom currently looks after all the digital products that Golf Monthly produce including Strategy and Content Planning for the website and social media - Tom also assists the Cycling, Football, Rugby and Marine titles at Future. Tom plays off 16 and lists Augusta National (name drop), Old Head and Le Touessrok as the favourite courses he has played. Tom is an avid viewer of all golf content with a particularly in depth knowledge of the pro tour.