Langasque storms to maiden title at Wales Open

Romain Langasque stormed to victory at the ISPS Handa Wales Open, overturning a five-stroke deficit to win his first European Tour title.

The Frenchman started the final day at Celtic Manor 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 continued to lurk one shot back after another gain on the ninth, but drew level with a fourth birdie of the day on the par-five 11th. Successive birdies at 15 and 16 saw the 25-year-old sign for a bogey-free 65 and an eight-under-par total as a nervous wait followed.

Bogeys at 14 and 16 dashed Syme’s hopes of a maiden European Tour victory and both he and Soderberg found the water with their third shots at the par-five 18th, which ultimately ended the Swede’s chances of forcing a play-off or outright victory.

Langasque’s win elevated him to 31st in the 2020 Race to Dubai Rankings, and also earned him a place in next month’s US Open after he moved inside the top ten on the UK Swing Order of Merit. The top ten golfers not already exempt on that list, including Syme and runner up Sami Välimäki of Finland, have now secured their berths at Winged Foot.

Langasque said: “I’m so happy with the way I played the back nine – 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 post Langasque storms to maiden title at Wales Open appeared first on Golf News.