It was evident early in Sunday’s final round that this year’s version of The Ascendant at TPC Colorado was going to come down to the wire.

Ten players were within six strokes of the lead going into the final round and by the time the last player made the turn from No. 9 to No. 10, eight players were within four shots.

In the end, Nicholas Lindheim held off the field for a two-stroke victory, shooting a final-round 66 for a four-day tournament record 268, 20 strokes under par, breaking the old tournament record of 17 under par set last year by Zeching Dou.

“Satisfying,” Lindheim said of his victory. “A lot of hard work, but we all do it. … I think it played a little softer on the greens than it has in past years. We played in nice weather. I think in past tournaments, we played in a little bit more wind. Those two things make a big difference.”

Lindheim, who is one of the elders of the Korn Ferry Tour this year at 38, was at the top of the leaderboard after the tournament’s first day and stayed at or near the top through the weekend.

It was his third victory on the Korn Ferry Tour and first since 2017. In the meantime, he has played some PGA Tour events and most recently has been recovering from a back injury that sidelined him for four months.

“I think 38 years old, in any other sport, that’s pretty old,” he said. “It’s satisfying to know that I still have good golf ahead of me. I’ve taken a lot of time away from golf with my injury to be with my family. I think that’s really put me in a good place, mentally. I know I can play well at the biggest stage.”

Early on the back nine Sunday, Lindheim began to put some breathing room between himself and the golfers chasing him. On the 15th hole, Parker Coody made a birdie to pull within a shot of the leader, but Lindheim answered with a birdie on the same hole to go back ahead by two strokes over Coody and Max Greyserman.

On No. 16, Coody made par, but Greyserman made a birdie to take sole possession of second place and that is the way the tournament finished, with Lindheim winning by two strokes over Greyserman and three over Coody.

“I usually am a leaderboard watcher, but I knew I was playing well and I saw Alejandro (Tosti) was at 19 when I was just finishing eight,” Lindheim said. “After I saw that, I was just like, ‘Alright, I’m just going to plug in and try to finish strong and see what happens.’ Two shots seems like a lot, but it ‘s really not. The only time I looked at the leaderboard was after I hit my putt up to eight inches (on 18) and realized I had a two-shot lead. I stopped breathing.”

Early in the round, it looked like third-round leader Tosti might be the one to pull away from the field. Through his first seven holes, he was -5 for the day and -20 for the tournament. But a double bogey on No. 8 brought him back to the pack and into a tie with Lindheim.

Lindheim was -4 for the day through 10 holes. His front nine was highlighted by an eagle on No 3. With Tosti through nine holes and Lindheim through 10, the two were tied at -18 for the tournament.

At the same time, Coody and Greyserman were both at -4 for the day through 11 holes and only two strokes back of the leaders at -16 for the tournament. Tim Widing, who was tied for the lead going into the final round, struggled a little on the front nine and had dropped to fifth place at 1-under for the day at the turn.

As the leaders began the back nine, Lindheim began to heat up while Tosti cooled off a bit and Coody, along with Greyserman, began their surge to the top of the leaderboard.

Coody moved to -7 through 13 holes and pulled into a tie for second with Tosti and Greyserman as the lead groups were about halfway through their back nine. Then Tosti dropped to fourth and eventually finished there in a tie with Widing while Coody and Greyserman battled for second.

“It was just solid golf throughout the entire tournament,” Coody said. “It wasn’t anything that stood out. It was just four good rounds and I had a good finish, but hopefully it just stays that the rest of the season. I just wanted to play as good as I can and where it ended up is where it ended up. It was a good finish, but obviously I would have liked to have finished a couple better.”

With his win, Lindheim won $180,000 and 500 points in the Korn Ferry standings, where the top 30 at the end of the season will earn their PGA Tour card.