St. Pölten, Austria – Schmitt had endured a difficult start to the week on Tuesday. After nine holes at the picturesque Golfclub St. Pölten, whose 18 holes wind through the parklands of Goldegg Castle, his scorecard showed two bogeys, seven pars and no birdies. However, the 28-year-old, who already has several strong finishes on both the HotelPlanner Tour and the DP World Tour to his name, soon found top form.
A strong back nine helped him salvage an opening-round 68, and he carried that mo-mentum into the final round. Schmitt recorded eight birdies without a single mistake, posting a flawless 62 (-8). It was the lowest round of the day and secured the Düssel-dorf native’s fourth Pro Golf Tour title—and his first victory in almost ten years. He ulti-mately finished one shot ahead of van Doren.
“It definitely feels great,” said Schmitt. “Strangely enough, I had a feeling this morning that something special was going to happen today. I didn’t know exactly what, but I just let it come to me. To be honest, I also left quite a few chances out there. Still, I believed all week that something good could happen.”
Short Putter Instead of a Broomstick
A key factor behind Schmitt’s outstanding performance was a spontaneous decision to switch back to a conventional short putter for the final round. In recent weeks, he had exclusively used a broomstick-style putter. “The greens here are a bit different, and I felt the short putter suited them better.” The decision proved to be the right one. The now four-time Pro Golf Tour winner was particularly pleased with his performance on the greens.
“Over the past few weeks, the putter has let me down a little. Today everything worked really well on the greens.” For Schmitt, who has spent recent years moving between the HotelPlanner Tour and the DP World Tour, the victory carries significant importance.
“It’s definitely a relief,” he said. “Of course, I know I’m good enough. I’ve already won several times on the Pro Golf Tour. The last few years haven’t been easy for me. That makes it even nicer to finally win another title. It helps in the rankings and gives me confidence. Everyone at the top has won at least once by now, so it was important to close the gap again.”
The victory moves Schmitt up to fourth place in the Order of Merit standings. Dario Antonisse of the Netherlands remains in the lead, ahead of Belgium’s Kristof Ulenaers and fellow Dutchman Koen Kouwenaar. Poland’s Alejandro Pedryc sits in fifth place.
Special thanks go to Golfclub St. Pölten and title sponsor Raiffeisen Bank for their longstanding commitment to the Pro Golf Tour. Over the years, the tournament has become a well-established and highly regarded fixture on the schedule.
After only a short break at Lake Constance, the players now head into the newly intro-duced German Swing. The international professional talents will compete in three consecutive events: the VcG Bodensee Open at Golfclub Owingen-Überlingen (9–11 June), the VcG Köln Open at Golf- und Land-Club Köln in Refrath (16–18 June), and the VcG Neuhof Open at Golf-Club Neuhof near Frankfurt am Main (23–25 June). Each tournament offers a prize fund of €40,000.
