Open de France report: What happened at Le Golf National?
Even in the gloom of October Le Golf National’s fearsome closing stretch played its part as Nicolas Colsaerts squeezed home for his first win in seven years.
Five ahead after a birdie at the 1st to two behind after 12 the Belgian collected himself to pip JB Hansen with George Coetzee in third.
Colsaerts very nearly ended up wet off the 13th tee but the soft conditions saved him as he rallied with a birdie before a brilliant chip-in eagle two holes later gave him the lead again.
But Hansen (68) then closed the gap with an exquisite third straight birdie at the 15th, where everyone was struggling and Colsaerts would soon double himself, but his effort came unstuck when he chose to putt from off the green at the 17th and proceeded to putt it off the green.
The Dane would take a double-bogey six and with Coetzee (71) making a treble at the 15th it was left to Colsaerts to clean up.
A rock-solid par at 17 was followed by the same at the last, another hole that saw its usual share of bogeys and doubles, and two putts was enough to give him a one-over 72 and probably the most important win of his career.
Coming into the week he was down in 114th on the Race to Dubai and struggling to keep his card, now one of the game’s most likeable characters has his short-term future all sorted and is up to 53rd on the money list and in with a shout of making it to the season ender in Dubai.
American Kurt Kitayama recovered from a quadruple bogey second on the short 2nd to get back to level for the day and claim fourth spot on his own – he is now 12th on the money list in his rookie season – one ahead of 2009 champion Martin Kaymer, Ireland’s Gavin Moynihan and Scot Richie Ramsay.
Open de France report: Anything else?
Brace yourself, the Rules of Golf were out in force again this week in France. Marcel Siem was plodding along at one over on Thursday when he was told that his score was to be amended to 11 over due to a misunderstanding over preferred lies.
Steve Carroll has all the details here with how the German fell foul of the rules and his explanation for his disqualification.
Who knows what his inspiration was to play this week, maybe the lure of Paris in the late autumn was more than enough, but one Open champion was a welcome invite to Le Golf National.
And the good news for Stewart Cink is that he lightened his load considerably for the trip home by depositing a collection of balls around the Ryder Cup course.
By the looks of his scorecard he possibly left a couple behind at the short 2nd judging by the quadruple he made there on Sunday.
French golf fans, grab your snorkels if you like free golf balls. Over four rounds, I’ve just put ten Prov1x (new to slightly used) into ponds at Le Golf Nationale! Not on purpose! Still had a great time playing here this week! @ffgolf @EuropeanTour pic.twitter.com/MJbwG9vxak
— Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) October 20, 2019
Open de France report: What the winner had to say
Watch Colsaerts’ emotional post-round words..
An emotional @Coelsss reflects on his Amundi Open De France triumph 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/pWzFOjDtIW
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 20, 2019
Open de France report: Shot of the week
After a nervy chip two holes earlier the champion produced this for a brilliant three..
Chip-in eagle for Nico Colsaerts!
He's back in the lead.#OpenDeFrance pic.twitter.com/1NUaTlEbLp
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 20, 2019
Open de France report: What’s next?
The European Tour sweeps down to the Algarve for the Portugal Masters, the scene of Oliver Fisher’s 59 last year.
