Thomas Bjørn won the final Hero Challenge of 2021, defeating former Masters Champion Danny Willett and European Tour winners Min Woo Lee and Marcus Armitage at Topgolf Dubai.

The iconic location, located next to Emirates Golf Club, was the backdrop for the third and final Hero Challenge of 2021, with the 2018 Ryder Cup Captain Bjørn scoring the most points in the fun and fast shoot-out contest.

The quartet went head-to-head ahead of this week’s final Rolex Series event, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

They competed in the TOPSHOT Advanced game, with each player getting 20 shots, split into four rounds of five balls, with points awarded for hitting targets at increasing distances.

Bjørn was crowned the winner with two balls to spare in the event hosted by Vernon Kay and Iona Stephen streamed live on the European Tour’s YouTube channel.

“It was great fun,” said Bjørn. “The Topgolf facilities are amazing and they are so good for the game of golf. They are popping up everywhere in the world and it’s an incredible place to hang out with your friends and family to have a laugh and enjoy time together.

“Hero and Mr Munjal are also superb for golf. What they do for our game is unbelievable, so to combine here in Dubai with the European Tour, you can see it is great fun and this will get a lot of people into golf and enjoying it in a different way.

“My mind was probably on the Hero Challenge and their minds obviously something a bit bigger with the DP World Tour Championship on Thursday, but this was a bit of fun and it goes to show that everyone can have a nice time. It involves a little bit of luck, a little bit of skill, and that is what it’s all about. I look at this and think to bring kids here to watch and play will get them into golf and that is what it is all about in the end.”

The Hero Challenge at Top Golf Dubai rounded off a new look for the fun challenges in 2021. The first Hero Challenge of 2021 saw Ryder Cup stars Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter given 50 balls each to attempt a hole-in-one at the Renaissance Club in Scotland.

The second saw a team of four golfers break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the ‘Fastest hole of golf by a team of four’. Sean Crocker, Nicolai Højgaard, Min Woo Lee and Wilco Nienaber set a new record time of 24.75 seconds at Real Club Valderrama.

They follow on from the success of the live shows between 2016 and 2020, staged at iconic venues such as Edinburgh Castle in Scotland’s capital and the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, is a big supporter of innovation in golf through the Hero Challenge on the European Tour in addition to its title sponsorship of the Hero Indian Open, which returns to the Race to Dubai calendar in 2022.