Oliver Wilson Player Profile

HOW DID that happen? After a gap of eight years, England’s Oliver Wilson finally landed his second DP World Tour title at the Made in Himmerland in Denmark.

The 41-year-old won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in 2014, after which he lost his game. He ended up back on the Challenge Tour, where he won twice in 2018. But it has been one long struggle.

His best finish this season had been a tie for 12th place at the Qatar Masters way back in March and there had been eight missed cuts until it all finally clicked back into place in Denmark. He began the week in 156th place in the DP World Tour standings and his world ranking had tumbled to 748th. He was in no man’s land.

But this win takes him to 28th in tour rankings and helps to revive his career.

He finished the week on 21 under par after rounds of 66, 65, 65 and 67 to defeat Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson by a shot.

Ferguson had looked on course to claim his third victory of the season after shooting a closing 66 to set the clubhouse target at 20 under par.

But Wilson, playing in the final group, finished with a flourish in Farsø, holing from 66 feet at the 13th, 14 feet on the 16th and 64 feet at the 17th to leapfrog the Scot and take a one-shot lead to the 18th tee.

He safely parred the last to sign for a 67 after coming Into the tournament looking for his first top-ten finish on the DP World Tour since the 2019 edition of this event, when he finished in a tie for fourth.

He struggled to keep his emotions in check at the end, saying: “Everything I have done to rebuild my game up to this point. I knew I could do it… I am so proud of myself.”

Ferguson finished alone in second on 20 under, two shots ahead of Norway's Kristian Krogh Johannessen in solo third.

Wilson began the day in a share of the lead on 17 under alongside Francesco Laporta, Ross McGowan, Matthew Southgate but was unable to make any early progress on day four, opening his round with seven straight pars to lose ground.

The 41-year-old picked up his first birdie of the day from close range at the eighth before parring each of the next four holes.

His round sprang into life at the 13th, where he drained a monster birdie putt from the right fringe to get within one shot of Ferguson.

After his tricky birdie chip lipped out at the 14th, Wilson birdied the 16th to join Ferguson at the summit on 20 under.

Then at the 17th, for the second time on the back nine, Wilson rolled in a birdie putt from around 65 feet to lead on his own.

A perfect drive at the 18th laid the foundations for a straightforward par, and Wilson made no mistake to secure the trophy.

Who Is Oliver Wilson?

Wilson was born in Mansfield in September 1980. He turned professional in 2003, joined the Challenge Tour and quickly gained his playing privileges for the European Tour. In his rookie season in 2005 he had five top-10 finishes. In 2006 he lost in a playoff to Paul Casey at the Volvo China Open and the following year there were two more runner-up finishes. In 2008 he finished second four times and made Europe’s Ryder Cup team. He lost his card in 2011 and then, in 2014, after 228 starts he won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. But he then struggled again and had to return to the Challenge Tour, where he won twice in 2018.

Wilson averages 307 yards from the tee, hits 46.46% of fairways and finds 64.17% of greens in regulation. He averages 28.59 putts per round and gets up and down from the sand 58.44% of time. His stroke average is 70.70.