Thriston Lawrence Shoots 62 From Six Back, Then Beats Paul Casey on the Fourth Playoff Hole for a Third European Masters

Thriston Lawrence won the 2026 Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on Sunday, September 6, starting the final round six shots behind Paul Casey, shooting a bogey-free 8-under 62, and then beating Casey with a birdie on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff. It's his third title at Crans-Montana after 2022 and 2025, which the DP World Tour confirms puts him alongside Seve Ballesteros as the only three-time winners since the event joined the tour schedule in 1972. Casey, the 49-year-old overnight leader, had pledged all his prize money to victims of the town's New Year's Day fire.

The scoreline says Lawrence ran him down. The sequence says Casey had four putts to win this tournament and every one of them stayed out, and that's the section that matters.

Golf Raw was not at Crans-Montana. Every score, distance and quote here comes from the DP World Tour's official results, Associated Press wire copy, and named reporting from Golf Monthly, Golfmagic and The Golf News Net, with the sources listed at the bottom.

How a six-shot lead vanished

Casey started Sunday three clear of the field and six clear of Lawrence, then went backwards early.

Golf Monthly's live coverage records a poor start that saw the Englishman over par for the front nine, while Lawrence, Ángel Hidalgo and Harry Hall all charged. Lawrence's card was the clean one: eight birdies, no bogeys, four on each nine, per the DP World Tour's account. He posted 18-under 262 and sat in the clubhouse.

Casey answered. Golf Monthly reports four birdies in five holes on the back nine put him one ahead standing on the 72nd tee. Then the par putt at the last lipped out, per AP, and he signed for a 2-under 68 to tie.

That's not a collapse. It's a 68 under a three-shot lead and an emotional pledge, beaten by a 62 from a man who'd shot 73 the day before. Anyone calling it a choke hasn't looked at the two cards side by side.

Four trips down the 18th

Here's the payoff. AP's account is precise: Casey stood over a putt with the chance to win four times on the 18th green, once in regulation and three times in the playoff. Lawrence made good on his first chance.

The winning putt's length depends on who you read. AP says 18 feet. Yahoo Sports says 20. Golfmagic and Golf Today say 23. Call it roughly 20 feet, reported between 18 and 23, and know that nobody had a tape measure out.

One outlet's description of the deciding hole has Casey's chip coming up short before Lawrence holed out and pumped his arms. Lawrence afterward, on the 18th green, per the DP World Tour: "It's crazy, it's probably the most emotion I've ever shown like in a happy way." He added that he felt for Casey, who he said had played great and looked like the winner even in the playoff.

No on-record comment from Casey after the playoff appeared in any of the reporting we could open.

What the third title is worth

Two lists, and Lawrence's name moved a long way up both overnight.

Golf Today's world ranking update for September 7, 2026 has him rising from 183rd to 111th. The Golf News Net records 835 Race to Dubai points for the win, lifting him to 21st in the season standings, roughly three-quarters through the year. His rounds for the week: 64, 63, 73, 62.

The cheque was €548,226.41, or $637,500, from a $3.75 million purse, per The Golf News Net and Golfmagic. It's his sixth DP World Tour title.

On the history, one honest wrinkle. The DP World Tour says only Lawrence and Ballesteros have won three times since 1972. AP describes him as the seventh three-time winner in the event's full history and the first since Seve. Golf Today had earlier counted him as the sixth. The since-1972 claim is the one every source agrees on.

Where the runner-up's money goes

€354,734.74. That's Casey's second-place cheque, per Golfmagic and The Golf News Net, and by his own account none of it stays with him.

On Saturday evening, with the 54-hole lead, Casey told the DP World Tour that whatever happened he'd play hard, but that "all my prize money as well is going to the charity" supporting victims of the fire in Crans-Montana. Earlier Golf Today reporting names the recipient as Fondation Beloved, set up after the New Year's Day blaze at Le Constellation bar, which NBC News reported killed 41 people and injured 115. Casey lives in Switzerland and called this a home week.

We couldn't open a post-tournament confirmation that the transfer has been made, so this stands as a pledge covering the full amount rather than a completed donation.

Set the two cheques next to each other. The winner took home €548,226. The man who lost the playoff pledged €354,734 to 41 grieving families in the town he lives in, before he knew whether he'd win or lose. Golf Raw's view is that the second number will outlast the first.

Sources

1. DP World Tour, official Omega European Masters tournament scoring, playoff play-by-play, and player interviews.
2. Associated Press, wire report on Thriston Lawrence's 4-hole playoff victory over Paul Casey.
3. Golf Monthly, live final-round coverage and leaderboard updates from Crans-Montana.
4. Golfmagic, purse, prize money payout breakdown, and playoff recap.
5. The Golf News Net, Race to Dubai points distribution and prize money records.