Romain Langasque overturned a five-stroke deficit to win his first European Tour title at the ISPS Handa Wales Open.
The Frenchman started the final day at The Celtic Manor Resort in a share of sixth, five shots behind 54-hole co-leaders Sebastian Soderberg and Connor Syme, but the deficit was cut to just one stroke after his second birdie of the day on the sixth hole.
The 2015 Amateur Champion remained just one shot back after another gain on the ninth, but drew level with a fourth birdie of the day on the par five 11th hole. Successive birdies at the 15th and 16th holes saw the 25-year-old sign for a bogey-free 65 and an eight under par total as a nervous wait followed.
Bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes dashed Syme’s hopes of a maiden European Tour victory and both he and Soderberg found the water at the par five 18th, which ultimately ended the Swede’s chances at the eleventh hour.
“As I said on the course I was playing really good since the start of the week,” conceded Langasque, “I was only focusing on doing my thing – that was the only objective I had on Monday with my coach. I’m so happy with the way I played the back nine, I played really, really good, I had so many birdie opportunities. The second shot on 16 and the first shot on 17 were my two best shots of the week. That shows that the work we have done the past few weeks has worked, and I’m pretty happy.”
The French golfer’s win elevated him to 31st in the 2020 Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, and also earned him a place in next month’s U.S. Open after he moved inside the top ten on the UK Swing Order of Merit.
It was a disappointing tournament for the Irish golfers who finished towards the rear of the field. Cormac Sharvin was best, as he finished on 289, which was 13 shots off the winner. Paul Dunne was a further three shots behind Sharvin, while Jonathan Caldwell carded a final day 76, to end the tournament on 293.
Final Scores:
276 R LANGASQUE (FRA) 71 68 72 65,
278 S VALIMAKI (FIN) 70 72 67 69,
279 D DIXON (ENG) 70 70 71 68, M JORDAN (ENG) 69 72 72 66,
280 S SODERBERG (SWE) 68 70 68 74, J MORRISON (ENG) 73 72 66 69, L CANTER (ENG) 71 69 72 68,
281 C SYME (SCO) 66 70 70 75, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 75 68 69 69, G GREEN (MAS) 73 71 68 69, C HILL (SCO) 73 71 68 69, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 70 74 69 68, H LI (CHN) 72 66 76 67, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 75 71 67,
282 T PIETERS (BEL) 69 72 69 72, M KINHULT (SWE) 69 71 72 70, R FOX (NZL) 70 74 68 70, L JOHNSTON (SCO) 70 68 75 69, S HEISELE (GER) 70 71 73 68, L DE JAGER (RSA) 70 74 70 68,
283 D BURMESTER (RSA) 72 71 68 72, C HOWIE (SCO) 74 69 69 71, M FENASSE (FRA) 72 70 72 69, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 75 70 69 69, C SORDET (FRA) 72 74 68 69, D HUIZING (NED) 70 73 72 68,
284 E MOLINARI (ITA) 72 70 68 74, M SIEM (GER) 70 74 67 73, B STONE (RSA) 70 72 70 72, S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 73 70 69 72, J SMITH (ENG) 66 72 75 71, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 74 69 71 70, R PARATORE (ITA) 69 72 74 69, C PAISLEY (ENG) 72 74 69 69, D WHITNELL (ENG) 73 71 72 68, L SCALISE (ITA) 72 71 74 67,
285 R ROCK (ENG) 71 69 73 72, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 73 71 70 71, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 71 70 74 70, D LAW (SCO) 71 75 69 70, S CROCKER (USA) 74 71 71 69, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 74 70 73 68, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 72 74 71 68,
286 N ELVIRA (ESP) 71 67 74 74, J HARDING (RSA) 70 70 73 73, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 73 70 72, R RAMSAY (SCO) 73 72 70 71, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 75 71 69 71, A RAI (ENG) 70 71 75 70, A SADDIER (FRA) 71 71 75 69, J MCLEOD (AUS) 73 71 73 69, S HORSFIELD (ENG) 73 71 77 65,
287 Z LOMBARD (RSA) 77 69 68 73, O LENGDEN (SWE) 72 71 72 72, D PERRIER (FRA) 71 75 69 72, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 71 72 73 71, A COCKERILL (CAN) 73 71 72 71, W BESSELING (NED) 73 71 73 70,
288 D YOUNG (SCO) 73 72 70 73, K KITAYAMA (USA) 68 74 76 70, R MACINTYRE (SCO) 68 78 72 70, M BALDWIN (ENG) 74 72 73 69,
289 C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 71 69 76, J SENIOR (ENG) 73 71 71 74, R MCEVOY (ENG) 71 74 72 72, S TILEY (ENG) 71 73 74 71, S KIM (USA) 71 67 82 69,
290 A CHESTERS (ENG) 69 72 76 73, A MERONK (POL) 73 69 76 72, S VINCENT (ZIM) 75 71 73 71, L SLATTERY (ENG) 78 66 79 67,
291 N LEMKE (SWE) 73 72 70 76,
292 A KARLSSON (SWE) 77 69 70 76, P DUNNE (IRL) 74 72 73 73, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 69 73 80 70,
293 O FISHER (ENG) 71 73 71 78, J CALDWELL (NIR) 72 74 71 76.
