Joakim Haeggman finally secured his debut win on the Legends Tour with a fantastic final day round of 66 at the MCB Tour Championship Seychelles. The Swede teed off in the final group with a share of the lead and blasted a superb front nine of 30 including three birdies back-to-back-to-back and an eagle on the 9th. At that point, Haeggman was three shots clear of Austrian Markus Brier, his playing partner. The Swede wobbled briefly on the back nine shooting bogies on the 14th and 15th but recovered with birdies on 16 and 17, leaving him with a 5 shot lead on the 18th tee. A popular and gregarious member of the tour, Haeggman celebrated arms aloft before hugging his long-time caddy Joey Jones after his win.
Haeggman becomes the 6th first time winner on the Legends Tour this season; scoring 199 (66,67,66). Adilson de Silva finished second, four shots behind. He and Haeggman had tussled on the final day of the PGA Seniors Championship at Formby earlier in the year where the Swede had to settle for second.
“All of us players know we can do it but and I had a nightmare a few weeks back in Italy also playing in the final group…came in with such a high number so the pressure was high, I’ve done well in a few other tournaments obviously but it was so nice to finally get myself a trophy and that’s what we play for so I am really really happy.
I first looked at the leaderboard on 17… I knew I was flying, at that point I was five or six under for the day and the knew the others were not following… I’ve played in the last group a few times this year and you learn from the process and I have won golf tournaments all over the world before and knew it was coming, and it happened today!
53 year old Joakim Haeggman was a three time winner on the DP Tour and the first Swede to tee it up at the Ryder Cup for Team Europe when he played at the Belfry in 1993. Since joining the Legends in 2019, Haeggman has come close a few times including second placed finishes at the 2021 Italian Open and Staysure PGA Seniors Open in 2022.
The Legends Tour moves onto Mauritius for the MCB Tour Championship Mauritius, the final tournament of the season, where the Order of Merit will be decided and presented. The Tournament runs 8-11 December 2022.
