Chéserex, Switzerland – Everything pointed towards a decision coming in the closing moments. As the final groups teed off on Wednesday morning at the first tee of the beautiful course at Golf & Country Club de Bonmont, the bright sunshine offered a fleeting glimpse across pictur-esque Lake Geneva before focus returned fully to the battle for the title. The tournament in the Swiss Canton of Vaud was completely open before the final round – the field was tightly packed, and the perfectly prepared course had already produced low scores and a record number of aces (six in total) over the first two days. Those who played good golf were rewarded – accordingly high were the expectations.

From the chasing pack, Michael Hirmer then put on an impressive display. The 28‑year‑old Bavarian began the final round six strokes behind leader Timo Vahlenkamp and launched a furious start: five birdies and an eagle on the first nine holes laid the foundation for a 61 – the best round of the tournament. Hirmer remained flawless on the back nine and added three more birdies, which catapulted him to the top of the leader-board on –17. Allen John, who had started one shot better than Hirmer, finished with a strong 63, but in the end fell just short of the new clubhouse leader.

As impressive as Hirmer’s benchmark was, the title race was still not decided at that point. The last groups around Vahlenkamp and company still had enough holes left to overtake the leader. Above all Vahlenkamp, the 27‑year‑old from GC Berlin Stolper Heide, got to within one stroke with his third birdie of the day on the 14th hole. But nei-ther the winner of the 2023 Castanea Resort Championship, who like Hirmer had strug-gled on the Challenge Tour the previous year, nor Clement Guichard managed to knock Hirmer off the top of the leaderboard – and after rounds of 68 (Vahlenkamp) and 65 (Guichard) they had to settle for second place, tied with John at –16.

Leaderboard: All results at a glance
Order of Merit of the 2025 Season

–7 after 9 – then a glance at live scoring
“The victory was still far away this morning,” Hirmer admitted. “I just wanted to focus on myself and do my thing, and I didn’t look at the live scoring either, but after nine holes I already knew I had a good chance. That it ended up being enough has of course also a bit to do with luck, but that’s part of it.”

Hirmer, who had recently achieved a commendable 18th place at the German Chal-lenge on the HotelPlanner Tour and also impressed with third place at the Pro Golf Tour stop at the Öschberghof’s The Cuber Open, was delighted with the dream round. “I al-ready knew after the first two rounds that I was capable of more. Today everything just clicked. The atmosphere in the group was first class and it was a lot of fun to play. I was stable and aggressive off the tee and hit many fairways. Fortunately the putter got hot too.”

The course, designed by Donald Harradine with its many risk‑and‑reward holes and breathtaking views of Lake Geneva, also left a lasting impression. What is certain is that the Golf & Country Club de Bonmont presented itself as a first‑class stage on its Pro Golf Tour debut.

After a short break, the Pro Golf Tour stars head to the Netherlands. Starting 14 Au-gust, the “Dutch Swing” features three tournaments in the neighbouring country: the Staan Open (14–16 August), the Mono Gelpenberg Open (20–22 August) and the Stip-pelberg Open (26–28 August).