Connor Syme Battles Rough Weather Conditions In The Netherlands To Land Maiden DP World Tour Title At KLM Open

The 29-year-old carded a closing 70 (-1) to reach 11-under and see off Sweden's Joakim Lagergren by two strokes at The International Golf Club in Amsterdam

Connor Syme lifts the 2025 KLM Open at The International GC in Amsterdam
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Scotland's Connor Syme claimed his maiden DP World Tour title at the 2025 KLM Open after battling severely testing weather conditions at The International Golf Club to win by two strokes.

Syme - who is from Kirkcaldy, just 25 miles away from St Andrews - faced strong winds and heavy rain showers in Amsterdam, not unlike the weather he would have experienced growing up on his home nation's east coast.

Perhaps the know-how of playing in those conditions partly contributed to his success as, while a large portion of the field struggled to finish under par, Syme posted an 11-under total following a closing one-under 70.

Sweden's Joakim Lagergren was a close second thanks to a 72nd-hole eagle, but a five-stroke gap separated the runner-up with South Africa's Jayden Schaper in solo third on four-under-par for the week.

At a tournament which was disrupted on three different occasions due to a flooded course, darkness, and then strong winds, Syme posted two rounds in the 60s over the first three days to set up his two-stroke advantage heading into Sunday.

And despite an earlier two-tee start in threeballs, further spells of rain and wind made it extremely tough on those chasing the title. However, Syme performed admirably by carding just one bogey and two birdies to ease home on his 182nd DP World Tour start.

Reacting to his achievement on the 18th green, Syme said: "Unbelievable. It was so, so difficult the last few days.

"I just felt so much better this week, I felt really ready to do it, and I'm so, so happy I managed to do it. I'm buzzing I've done it with Ryan on the bag as well, I'm just overjoyed."

As soon as the final par putt dropped, the 29-year-old was greeted by his wife, Alanis - who had flown out to surprise him - as well as fellow DP World Tour pros Ewen Ferguson, Richard Mansell and Calum Hill - all of whom have stood in the winner's circle within the last year.

Grateful for the support of his friends and family en route to this moment, Syme continued: "It's so, so nice they stuck around. I've obviously been really pleased for them and I'm really happy to have joined them and won myself, so just amazing. Amazing.

"Every part of my team is so, so important, I've been playing on them. Different shots I've played as a kid, that was the kind of feeling it was today and just everyone helped so much."

Completing a fine day for Scottish golf was Richie Ramsey and Ferguson sharing fourth with England's Jack Senior on three-under. Ferguson in particular enjoyed his final round thanks to a hole-in-one at the seventh.

A six-man group shared seventh place on two-under and were a part of only 25 players to finish at level par or better this week - last week's Austrian Alpine Open champion, Nicolai von Dellingshausen was joined by Francesco Laporta - who bogeyed the last - Jorge Campillo, Manuel Elvira, Andy Sullivan and Dan Bradbury.

Meanwhile, Daan Huizing signed off at level par to take the leading Dutchman honors ahead of Darius Van Driel (+1).

Jonny Leighfield
Staff Writer

Jonny Leighfield is our Staff News Writer who joined Golf Monthly just in time for the 2023 Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. He graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in Sport Journalism in 2017 and spent almost five years as the sole sports reporter at his local newspaper. During his time with Golf Monthly, Jonny has interviewed several stars of the game, including Robert MacIntyre, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Joaquin Niemann. An improving golfer himself, Jonny enjoys learning as much about the game as he can and recently reached his Handicap goal of 18 for the first time. He attended both the 150th and 151st Open Championships and dreams of attending The Masters one day.

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