Sandhu finishes T-63, Sterne wins after gap of 13 years

Sandhu carded his only over par round of 73 on the final day and finished with a score of 5-under par with rounds of 70-68-68-73.The winner this week was South Africas Richard Sterne, a seven-time winner on the DP World Tour who won his last title over 13 years ago.Sterne had a total score of 18-under par 64-68-68-66.The other Indian in the field this week was Shubhankar Sharma, who missed the cut for the third successive start.

Indian golfer Yuvraj Sandhu endured a difficult final day to finish T-63 at the Soudal Open here.

The 29-year-old is playing his debut season on the DP World Tour. Sandhu carded his only over par round of 73 on the final day and finished with a score of 5-under par with rounds of 70-68-68-73.

The winner this week was South Africa's Richard Sterne, a seven-time winner on the DP World Tour who won his last title over 13 years ago.

Sterne had a total score of 18-under par (64-68-68-66).

The other Indian in the field this week was Shubhankar Sharma, who missed the cut for the third successive start. He last made the cut at the Turkish Airlines Open back in March.

Sandhu struggled in his final round of the week as he saw a pair of bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes and another on the 13th hole before making his only birdie of the day on the 15th.

This saw him card a final round of 2-over 73 to drop down more than 30 places from T-32 to T-63. Sandhu's second and third day performance had set the Indian up for a strong finish but he failed to keep up the momentum.

Sterne put together a strong final round of 5-under 66 with four birdies, one eagle and one bogey to clinch the title. The 45-year-old was aided by a late birdie on the 16th hole and an eagle on the 17th to put himself into the lead with only one hole left to play.

Sterne played one of the shots of his life to claim his first DP World Tour title in more than a decade.

Trailing countryman Zander Lombard for most part of the day, Sterne 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 45-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.

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.