Former University of Colorado golfer Sebastian Heisele posted his best finish ever on the European Tour on Sunday by tying for third in the KLM Open in The Netherlands.
The 29-year-old German (pictured) posted rounds of 66-68-68-69 for a 13-under-par 271 total. That left him two strokes behind champion Romain Wattel of France.
Heisele’s previous best finish on the European Tour was a fourth in the Open de Portugal in May. He was also seventh in last week’s Bridgestone Challenge on the European Challenge Tour.
With Sunday’s showing, Heisele jumped to 131st on the European Tour money list with 195,732 euros. He earned 73,500 euros on Sunday alone.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in major professional tour golf for players with strong Colorado connections:
— End of the Road for Laird: Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird finished out his 2016-17 PGA Tour season in fine fashion on Sunday, but he had been hoping to play one more week.
Laird needed a high finish at the BMW Championship in Lake Forest, Ill., to advance to the Tour Championship, but it wasn’t to be. Laird placed 44th in the third event of the FedExCup Playoffs. He needed to be in the top 30 in FedExCup points after the BMW to make the Tour Championship, but ended up 56th in the points standings, thereby ending his season.
Laird shot rounds of 73-69-70-66 for a 6-under-par 278 total in the BMW Championship.
— Saunders in Good Position in Web.com Tour Finals: The Web.com Tour Finals, where 25 PGA Tour cards are at stake, reached their halfway point on Sunday, and former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders remained in position to regain full PGA Tour playing privileges.
After an 11th-place finish in the first event of the Web Finals, Saunders ended up 40th on Sunday in the Albertsons Boise (Idaho) Open. That leaves him at 13th place in the Finals, where the top 25 after the Web.com Tour Championship will earn full PGA Tour status for next season.
Meanwhile, Denver native Mark Hubbard, who like Saunders competed on the PGA Tour most of this season, finished 46th on Sunday in Boise, which leaves him 49th in the Finals points standings.
— Toledo Fifth in Champions Tourney: Former Castle Pines resident Esteban Toledo recorded his best PGA Tour Champions finish in 19 months by placing fifth on Sunday in the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship in Victoria, B.C. in Canada.
Toledo went 66-69-66 for an 11-under-par 202 total, which left him three strokes behind champion Jerry Kelly. Toledo made seven birdies in the final round.
It was just Toledo’s second top-10 showing of the year — and first since placing sixth in the Alliance Championship in February. The last time he had a higher finish on the Champions circuit was February of 2016, when he won the Alliance tournament.
