The European Masters

Located in the beautiful Crans-Montana municipality nestled in the south of Switzerland, the Crans-sur-Sierre golf club sits before a daring backdrop of sweeping snow-covered mountains. The course’s striking location means it’s only open for 6 months of the year as it’s regularly snowed-under.

The club’s scenic location and challenging layout make it the perfect host for the Omega European Masters that annually takes place there at this time of year. South African Thriston Lawrence took the trophy come the end of Sunday, securing his 5^th European Tour title.

The 28-year-old had an excellent start to the tournament with a bogey free 63 opening round on the Thursday. He continued to keep himself at the hot end of the leaderboard as the event progressed and started the Sunday with a one-shot lead.

Feeling the pressure at the start of the day, Lawrence bogeyed each of his three opening holes to drop the lead and was overtaken by the likes of Matt Fitzpatrick and Matt Wallace.

In a true feat of golfing magic, he gathered himself mentally and went on to make an eagle on the 6^th and 5 birdies between the 7^th and 14^th holes. This was enough to land on a grand final score of 22-under-par, two strokes clear of second-placed Wallace, Välimäki, and Højgaard.

Lawrence was ecstatic to have achieved his 5^th European Tour trophy. His second European Masters title had played out in very similar fashion to when he beat Matt Wallace in a playoff in 2022 “Winning is tough. It’s not easy. I was so nervous all day. It always looks so easy, but it’s not. I’m just so emotional, so happy. It’s been a grind all day. I’m just so proud of the way I fought out there.”

Lawrence having come out on top this weekend had somewhat dimmed the hopes of Ryder Cup potentials Marco Penge and Matt Wallace. Penge admitted he would love to be picked for the Team, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens “I feel like I’ve done as much as I possibly can and whether I’ve started playing really well too late, I don’t know. It’s up to Luke and the vice-captains and it’s just great to be in the conversation to be honest.”

Everyone in the golfing world is gearing up for the Ryder Cup at the end of the month. Will Luke Donald’s European side triumph once again? Or will Keegan Bradley’s Americans fend off their opponents on home soil? We’re open in the pro shop this week and ready to help you with any of your golfing needs.