Paul Hendriksen shrugged off the attentions of defending champion Matt Cort to claim his second PGA Professional Championship title at Sherwood Forest.
Having won the event in 2015 at Burnham & Berrow, the 2023 title made Devon-based pro one of only a handful of players to win the tournament twice.
After opening up with a 68, the Ivybridge professional took the lead in the second round with a six-under 66 and maintained his lead with closing scores of 72 and 67, to finish six shots ahead of runner-up Cort. Both men secured spots in the 2024 PGA Play-Offs at Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus.
“I think this proves winning the first one wasn’t a fluke,” joked Hendriksen. “That’s what I’m most happy about at the moment. It doesn’t feel like eight years ago! I think this was probably a more solid performance compared to 2015 and it was nice being able to walk down the final holes with a big lead, rather than a small (one shot) lead eight years ago. There was a lot less and pressure and that was a nice feeling coming down the last knowing I just had to get the tee shot in play, hit the green and it was tough to lose it from there.”
Despite starting the final round two-shots ahead, Hendriksen remained attacking and three early birdies on holes 5, 7 and 8 meant he just couldn’t be caught by Cort who put up an impressive title defence.
Hendriksen added: “Matt (Cort) is probably one of the best players who competes in PGA tournaments. He caught me yesterday towards the end of the day so I was getting a little worried because I know how good he is, so I had to have my have my ‘A game’ and I brought that today and that was the only way I could beat him.
“This week has been really tough. The heat you can manage, we’re all used to playing in that, but the course was firm, and fast with lots of rough, so you had plot your way around the course and hit good shots. If you hit bad shots, you were going to get punished. I felt it was a fair golf course, but you really had to stand up and hit the shots.”
Hendriksen’s good friend Joe Ferguson (Tour Tech Golf) completed his final round earlier in the day, stayed on to support his friend during his final few holes and gave him a fantastic champagne celebration on the 18th hole.
The top 10 players plus ties also gain points towards qualification for the 2024 Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup team and entry into Final Qualifying for the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Paul O’Hara (North Lanarkshire Leisure Ltd) got off to a flyer with 5 birdies in the first 8 holes to finish in 4th place with a final score of -3, whilst other players making a big move on the final day to finish inside the top 10 included Jamie Howarth (Davenport Golf Club), Toby Hunt (St Mellons Golf Club) and James Ruth (James Ruth Golf Coaching).
CLICK HERE to view a final leaderboard from the 2023 PGA Professional Championship.