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.

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The 23-year-old started the final one shot behind Scotland’s Connor Syme, but shared the lead after the first hole as the young leader dropped a shot. The English golfer made consecutive birdies on the third and fourth holes and then birdied the seventh before a two-hour delay caused by the threat of lightning at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales which played like a pool table with the greens playing just perfect.

After the restart, he parred the next six holes before his fourth birdie of the day on 14^th, and he parred his way home to sign for a bogey-free 67 and an 18 under par total.

Commenting on his second win in three weeks, Horsfield admitted:

“It was pretty crazy. My goal this weekend was to have no bogeys and I was able to do that. I made a huge putt on 17 to keep that alive and I just played solid all week, really. To have a nice cushion coming into the last was nice.”

Similarly to the Hero Open at Forest of Arden, Belgium’s Thomas Detry finished as runner-up to Horsfield after also posting a four under par, bogey-free round.

The Belgian was satisfied with his performance after a long layoff from the sport, stating:

“We did an okay job this week. It’s nice to start after five months off with a top ten. We had a bit of a slip up yesterday but still, happy overall. My caddie said if I go two under through the last four then he’ll buy me dinner tonight, so I get free dinner.”

Sharing third place were 2016 Ryder Cup player Thomas Pieters, making his first start since the resumption of the 2020 Race to Dubai, Andrew Johnston of England and Syme, who stated, “My goal is to get in that top ten for the U.S. Open.”

Horsfield moves to the top of the UK Swing Order of Merit and has secured a place at the U.S. Open. He will be joined by the other top ten players on the UK Swing Rankings at Winged Foot at the conclusion of next week’s ISPS Handa Wales Open.

The Englishman is also guaranteed a share of £250,000 as part of the European Tour’s Good for Golf initiative. The top ten on the rankings after the ISPS Handa UK Championship at The Belfry will share the money to donate to charities of their choice.

Cormac Sharvin beat his fellow Ulsterman to be leading Irish golfer in the Celtic Classic. The Ardglass golfer carded a final round of 73, which Jonathan Caldwell bettered by one stroke, but Sharvin completed the tournament on a four-round total of 276 to Caldwell’s 278.

Select Final Scores

266 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64 68 67,
268 T DETRY (BEL) 67 66 68 67,
269 C SYME (SCO) 68 67 63 71, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66 68 68, T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68 70 67,
270 A MERONK (POL) 66 71 64 69, D HORSEY (ENG) 68 71 65 66, S VILIMIKI (FIN) 71 68 65 66, J CATLIN (USA) 68 68 69 65,
271 S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69 65 71,
272 C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65 69 70, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69 67 69, G GREEN (MAS) 70 69 70 63,
273 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69 69 70, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69 65 70, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67 69 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 69 70 66 68, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70 69 67, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 69 67 67, S HEISELE (GER) 69 70 69 65, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 70 71 67 65,
274 S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69 66 70, J SENIOR (ENG) 69 70 66 69, S CROCKER (USA) 68 66 73 67, J SMITH (ENG) 68 68 71 67, W NIENABER (RSA) 70 67 71 66,
275 M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70 67 71, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70 68 70, A BJORK (SWE) 71 70 66 68, R FISHER (ENG) 72 68 68 67,
276 C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67 65 73, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66 69 72, A RAI (ENG) 67 70 70 69, S BROWN (ENG) 67 72 68 69, D WHITNELL (ENG) 72 67 69 68, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 68 71 70 67, J DONALDSON (WAL) 70 70 70 66, R KARLBERG (SWE) 73 68 69 66,
277 M WARREN (SCO) 66 72 65 74, N ELVIRA (ESP) 66 69 72 70, C HILL (SCO) 70 68 70 69, J WALTERS (RSA) 70 69 69 69, S HEND (AUS) 75 65 68 69, T TREE (ENG) 65 75 69 68, A CHESTERS (ENG) 72 68 69 68, O FARR (WAL) 73 67 69 68
278 S KIM (USA) 66 70 68 74, J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66 72 72, A ARNAUS (ESP) 73 68 65 72, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 71 66 71, M JORDAN (ENG) 68 66 74 70, E MOLINARI (ITA) 66 72 70 70, O LENGDEN (SWE) 69 69 70 70, J HARDING (RSA) 69 71 68 70, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 68 71 70 69, D BURMESTER (RSA) 71 68 71 68,
280 J SJOHOLM (SWE) 68 70 69 73, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 66 70 72 72, F LAPORTA (ITA) 69 69 70 72, R FOX (NZL) 69 71 68 72, D PERRIER (FRA) 70 69 71 70,
281 S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 70 68 73,
282 L DE JAGER (RSA) 71 68 69 74, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73 70 72, S SHARMA (IND) 71 70 70 71,
283 T OLESEN (DEN) 71 70 69 73, J SURI (USA) 72 69 72 70, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 71 70 76 66,
284 G FORREST (SCO) 72 68 72 72,
285 R MCGOWAN (ENG) 70 70 71 74, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 70 71 70 74,
287 M LEE (AUS) 69 71 71 76,
288 B STOW (ENG) 68 72 73 75,
289 C PIGEM (ESP) 70 71 74 74

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Scotsman Syme started Saturday’s third round four strokes behind halfway leader Sam Horsfield from England, but quickly made a move with three birdies on the front nine. The 25-year-old carded five birdies on the back nine as he went on to sign for a 15 under par total, one stroke ahead of Horsfield.

“I just played lovely, to be honest,” admitted the Scot, “It’s obviously very nice conditions and I got off to a decent start. I maybe didn’t play the front nine as well as I’d like but I managed to get to three under through nine, which was great. I holed the putts that I had opportunities on so it was a nice base to build on. It was nice throughout, really.”

Recent Hero Open winner Horsfield, who is seeking s second title since the European Tour season resumed, parred the first eight holes before his first birdie of the day on the ninth. Two gains followed on the 14th and 16th holes as, like Syme, he returned a blemish-free card.

“I felt like I was actually playing really well” said Horsfield, “I hit a lot of greens and as I said walking up nine, I was just waiting for my putter to get hot. I made a few nice putts, didn’t take advantage of the easy holes on the back nine but I’m happy with the position I’m in.”

Sebastian Soderberg from Sweded carded a bogey-free six under par 65 to move up to third place on 13 under par, one stroke ahead of Thomas Detry of Belgium, England’s Andrew Johnston and Adrian Meronk of Poland.

2016 Ryder Cup player Thomas Pieters of Belgium and England’s Callum Shinkwin share seventh on 11 under.

Ardglass golfer Cormac Sharvin signed for a 65, his best round of the tournament so far, leaving him on a three-round total of 203, five shots behind the Scottish leader. Jonathan Caldwell, on the other hand, carded his worst round of the week with a 72, which sees him three strokes behind his fellow Ulsterman.

Select Round Three Scores

198 C SYME (SCO) 68 67 63,
199 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64 68,
200 S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69 65,
201 T DETRY (BEL) 67 66 68, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66 68, A MERONK (POL) 66 71 64,
202 T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68 70, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65 69,
203 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69 69, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69 67, M WARREN (SCO) 66 72 65, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69 65, C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67 65,
204 R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66 69, S KIM (USA) 66 70 68, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70 67, S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69 66, D HORSEY (ENG) 68 71 65, S VILIMIKI (FIN) 71 68 65,
205 J CATLIN (USA) 68 68 69, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67 69, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 69 70 66, J SENIOR (ENG) 69 70 66,
206 J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66 72, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70 69, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 69 67, A ARNAUS (ESP) 73 68 65.

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Horsfield, winner of his first European Tour title at the Hero Open a fortnight ago, shot a seven under par round of 64 on the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor Resort to move one stroke ahead of first-round leader Thomas Pieters of Belgium.

Horsfield was two under for the day standing on the ninth tee but carded four successive birdies around the turn and added two more on the 15^th and 16^th holes respectively. He recovered from a triple bogey on the 17^th with an excellent eagle on the 18^th hole to sign for an 11 under par total.

Commenting on his eagle at the 18^th, the English golfer admitted:

“(The eagle on 18) was actually funny, we had the exact same number into 17 at Forest of Arden when I won and hit that shot. So I hit the exact same shot and made the putt for eagle. 17 was not great, but to bounce back after making the triple I’ve got myself in a good position for tomorrow.”

Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston was four over for his round after five holes, but made an excellent recovery as he finished his round with an eagle and three birdies on his last four holes. He has a share of third place alongside fellow Englishman Callum Shinkwin and Pieters’ countryman Thomas Detry on nine under par.

American Sean Crocker, England’s Matthew Jordan and Jake McLeod of Australia are a shot further back on eight under par.

Thursday’s opening round leader Thomas Pieters said of his second round:

“I was going along nicely on the front nine but just couldn’t make a putt. I made some better shots on the back nine, a couple of mishaps on the 18th – it came out really dead, but that’s the price you pay if you hit it in the rough – all in all, I’m pretty happy. I made some good putts and hit some good golf shots so I’m glad.”

Select Round Two Scores

131 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64,
132 T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68,
133 A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66, T DETRY (BEL) 67 66, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65,
134 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69, M JORDAN (ENG) 68 66, S CROCKER (USA) 68 66, J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66,
135 N ELVIRA (ESP) 66 69, S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69, C SYME (SCO) 68 67, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66,
136 S KIM (USA) 66 70, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 66 70, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69, J CATLIN (USA) 68 68, J SMITH (ENG) 68 68, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67,
137 A MERONK (POL) 66 71, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70, A RAI (ENG) 67 70, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70, W NIENABER (RSA) 70 67,
138 M WARREN (SCO) 66 72, E MOLINARI (ITA) 66 72, J SJ0HOLM (SWE) 68 70, F LAPORTA (ITA) 69 69, O LENGDEN (SWE) 69 69, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69, S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69, C HILL (SCO) 70 68, C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67,
145 N HIJGAARD (DEN) 70 75, N LEMKE (SWE) 74 71, G MOYNIHAN (IRL) 74 71, S DODD (WAL) 75 70,
149 J VEERMAN (USA) 72 77, P MCGINLEY (IRL) 75 74.

Clandeboye golfer Jonathan Caldwell remains the leading Irish golfer, adding an impressive 66 to his opening round of 68. Cormac Sharvin improved on his first round by 4 shots as the Ardglass man signed for a 67 on Friday. Gavin Moynihan shot a 71 to add to his first day 74, while Paul McGinley bettered his Thursday’s score by a shot as he carded a 74 today. Neither Moynihan nor McGinley made it through to the weekend.

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The 28-year-old, who hasn’t played since the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters last March, showed no sign of rust at the Celtic Manor resort with a seven under par round that included eight birdies and a single bogey.

“I putted well and kept my ball in play, so I didn’t really get myself in trouble”, admitted the first round leader, adding “It was tough pulling clubs sometimes and I put some new grips on which were very slippery, so I was struggling with that all day.”

The four-time European Tour winner, never looked back after dropping his only shot of the day on the second, coming home in 29 to move one shot clear of  England’s Toby Tree and Australian Jake McLeod.

Tree also dropped a single shot on the second hole in his six under par round of 65, while McLeod eagled the last to jump in to a share of second place.

The Englishman was satisfied with his opening round in Wales, however, admitting:

“I loved it. It’s a bit different to what we have played the last few weeks – a bit bigger, longer. It’s in great nick. It was a pleasure this morning, good weather, no wind.”

Italian Edoardo Molinari – who starred in Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup win at the Newport venue – is a shot further back on five under par, alongside his fellow countryman Guido Migliozzi, Swede Sebastian Soderberg, Nacho Elvira of Spain, American player Sihwan Kim, Scot Marc Warren and Adrian Meronk of Poland.

Jonathan Caldwell was best of the Irish golfers as he carded a round of 68 to lie four strokes behind the Belgian leader. Cormac Sharvin shot 71 to sit 7 shots behind Pieters. Gavin  Moynihan was a further three strokes behind after his opening round of 74, one shot ahead of former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley.

Round One Lead Scores Only

64 T PIETERS (BEL),
65 J MCLEOD (AUS), T TREE (ENG),
66 N ELVIRA (ESP), S KIM (USA), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), M WARREN (SCO), A MERONK (POL), E MOLINARI (ITA), S SODERBERG (SWE),
67 L GAGLI (ITA), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), A JOHNSTON (ENG), S HORSFIELD (ENG), T DETRY (BEL), S BROWN (ENG), A RAI (ENG), N COLSAERTS (BEL), W BESSELING (NED), D COUPLAND (ENG), J MORRISON (ENG),
68 C SHINKWIN (ENG), J CATLIN (USA), J SJOHOLM (SWE), B STOW (ENG), M ANTCLIFF (AUS), M JORDAN (ENG), D HORSEY (ENG), S CROCKER (USA), C SYME (SCO), M SIMONSEN (DEN), J SMITH (ENG), J CALDWELL (NIR)
69 F LAPORTA (ITA), O LENGDEN (SWE), R ENOCH (WAL), A KARLSSON (SWE), A OTAEGUI (ESP), J HARDING (RSA), R RAMSAY (SCO), E CUARTERO BLANCO (ESP), M KIEFFER (GER), J SENIOR (ENG), Z LOMBARD (RSA), R FOX (NZL), M LEE (AUS), J SCRIVENER (AUS), S VINCENT (ZIM), S HEISELE (GER),
70 G GREEN (MAS), A QUIROS (ESP), J DONALDSON (WAL), N VON.

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The venue, which will host the European Tour for the next two weeks, will see the Newport location start with Tournament No. 17 on the 2020 Road to Dubai, the €1,000,000 Celtic Classic.

Taking place on the Twenty Ten Course, where Europe won back The Ryder Cup in dramatic fashion ten years ago, the Celtic Classic is the fourth event of the six-tournament UK Swing.

The 44-year-old Pontypridd man, a hero of the 2014 Ryder Cup at The Celtic Manor, is one of a number of players who have represented Europe in the biennial contest who will tee up this week.

“I love coming back down here. It’s a great venue and the course is looking really good, and the sun is shining. I do love playing here, normally you get great crowds, which is a shame, given the current circumstances that won’t be happening. It’s a special place, beautiful setting and beautiful weather. 

“I’ve been playing nicely. After the wrist operation things take time and I’ve been working hard to get that right. I’m fit as a fiddle. Sometimes things take longer than you think they would. I came back last year but never really felt 100 per cent. But now I feel fit, ready to go and look forward to playing next week. This is more of a ball-strikers golf course this week, it’ll help the longer hitter. It’s good that I can shoot low scores like that still. I’ve been playing well in practice, things are starting to come together.”

Ross Fisher and Edoardo Molinari, teammates at The 2010 Ryder Cup are returning to the site of that famous victory which was sealed by Graeme McDowell on the 16^th hole in the anchor match.

In the build up to this week’s tournament, Molinari has spoken about The Celtic Manor as a place that holds happy memories for him:

“It’s a golf course that I love, I have great memories from the Ryder Cup and the Wales Open, I played here a couple of times. It brings back a lot of fantastic memories, playing with Francesco and the whole team, and managing to win that Cup by half a point. It was a fantastic week. The weather, so far, looks good, let’s see what the next few days bring us. It’s always a very enjoyable week here. 

“I have two memories – the first tee with Francesco on the first day, which still gives me goosebumps ten years on. Then the last few holes in the singles against Rickie Fowler, I remember how busy it was, how many people were watching. I’ve never seen that many people be so loud on a golf course.”

Last week’s English Championship winner Andy Sullivan, who represented Europe in 2016, will hope to consolidate his place at the summit of the UK Swing Order of Merit, with the top ten not otherwise exempt after next week’s ISPS Handa Wales Open earning a place at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Those finishing inside the top ten after the sixth and final event – the ISPS Handa UK Championship – will also share £250,000 to donate to charities of their choice.

Sullivan, who claimed his first European Tour victory in 5 years last Sunday, enjoyed the opportunity the past number of days afforded him to celebrate his most recent tour success with family:

“It’s a long time waiting for that fourth win and I couldn’t be happier. Nice to do it in my own country and get back home with the family and celebrate. I’m still on cloud nine, it’s not quite sunk in yet. Florence was elated, bless her, it was my first win with her. She was over the moon and it was good to see a proper smile on her face.”

Irish interest in the Celtic Classic will include former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley who will tee off at 1.29pm on Thursday. First Irishman out will be Gavin Moynihan at 9.39am. Jonathan Caldwell is out just under an hour later, at 10.34am. Cormac Sharvin, who shot an excellent opening round at the English Championship last Thursday, will be the final Irish golfer to start his round, as he begins at 3.57pm.

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