South African Richard Sterne is back in the winners circle ending a 13-year wait in capturing the DPWTs Soudal Open in Belgium.
The 44-year-old Sterne, whose career has been dogged by injury, collected a 10th pro career success thanks to a closing round 66 for a two shot success at 18-under on the host Rinkven International course in Anterp.
The win is Sterne’s first since capturing the 2013 Joburg Open.
THE 1️⃣3️⃣-YEAR WINLESS WAIT IS OVER …
Richard Sterne ends a 13-year victory drought capturing career win No. 10 with his #SoudalOpen success
✅️ @TOURMISS pic.twitter.com/uow5OPBnn1
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) May 24, 2026
After fellow South African Zander Lombard had led comfortably for most of the day, Sterne timed his move to perfection with a stunning eagle – and almost an albatross – at the 17th.
That took him to 18 under par and challenged the rest of the leading pack to respond over the closing holes – and it proved too much to ask as Sterne proudly reigned supreme.
He said of that spectacular approach: “I thought I was still behind, I thought Zander was still on 19 (under) – I wasn’t really looking at leaderboards, to be honest.
“It was a long way for me, I had a five wood in the bag, I don’t have a three wood, it was 276 (yards) and I needed to hit a little draw on there to get the distance. It just came out as good as I could, it ended up great – three, four feet away – and yeah, it was one of the best shots I’ve hit.
South African Richard Sterne back in the winner’s circle after being dogged in recent years by injury. Image – Getty
“It’s been a tough ride. A lot of injuries, a lot of hard things that I’ve gone through but to get back in the winner’s circle is… quite unexpected today, to be honest. I thought I was one behind playing the last but then got on to the 18th green and had a quick look at the board and was quite surprised.”
Sterne has a titanium disc in his back, among a host of other surgeries which have wiped out several years of his career, and he said: “They were hard times, I didn’t think I was going to get through a lot of them.
“Three wrist ops, a disc replacement, hip surgery, I’ve been through it all so I’m pretty happy. It’s been very tough, the last couple of years, but there’s been some signs of good things.
“One of the main goals was to win with my children actually seeing it – the oldest is 13 soon, it’s been pretty much that long so it’s nice to eventually let them see me win. And then I suppose just to prove to myself that I can still compete at this age, after all I’ve been through.”
“It’s great to see the young guys coming through,” said Sterne. “There are some exceptional players, I think they’re going to be quite dominant going forward. But just to keep them a little bit on their toes, it’s nice to do that.”
The wait goes on for Lombard, who sportingly congratulated Sterne in the scorer’s hut after completing a round of 74.
Six players – Dane Jacob Skov Olesen (69), Spaniard Jorge Campillo (69), Japan’s Koto Kaneko (67), Frenchman Victor Perez (66), England’s Marcus Amitage (66) and Swede Marcus Kinhult (64) – shared second place at 16-under.
