Bernd Wiesberger wins Open de France

Bernd Wiesberger plays solid Sunday golf to clinch Open de France title

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Bernd Wiesberger plays solid Sunday golf to clinch Open de France title

 

Edited by Anand Datla

 

 

July 06, 2015: Bernd Wiesberger captured his third European Tour title with a commanding performance in the Alstom Open de France. Three behind overnight leader Jaco Van Zyl at the start of the day, Wiesberger burst into life after lightning briefly delayed the final round. Anirban Lahiri finished T30 after shooting 71 in the final round.

 

The 29 year old Austrian made four birdies in succession from the fourth, before nearly holing his approach to the ninth and tapping in for another gain to turn in 31. With the chasing pack unable to reel him in over Le Golf National’s notoriously tough back nine, eight straight pars kept Wiesberger in control before he finished things in style with a birdie from 15 feet on the last.

 

That gave him a closing round of 65, a 13 under total and a three shot winning margin over James Morrison. It also provided a first visit to the winner’s circle since capturing two titles in 2012, and with a €500,000 cheque for first place the biggest pay day of his European Tour career.

 

The victory caps a sparkling run of form during which Wiesberger finished sixth, third, fourth and second in his first four events of the season, before adding another runner-up finish in Ireland.

 

“It’s been a great first half of the year for me so far,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of great success but just couldn’t pull it quite off. To stand here with the trophy right now, it’s pretty sweet. I just hit a great shot down the fourth before the horns were blowing and they took us off the course. I liked my yardage, and had a good shot in there and had some momentum building, chipped in, holed a long putt.”

 

“I felt really comfortable out there,” added the German. “I had a great weekend, only one bogey, and 66, 65 – that’s not a bad score. This tournament is very special to me. It’s one of the biggest events we have on Tour every year and probably the most tradition, the oldest one on Continental Europe. I’m very proud to be on the winner’s list now, on this trophy dating back to 1906 it says here. It’s amazing and it was a great week. I really enjoyed playing in front of these crowds here and performing the way I did.”

 

“I have to say, James Morrison who I played with played great golf, as well, and gave me a good run which made it quite tight at the end,” admitted Wiesberger. Morrison dropped only one shot over the last three rounds, but the Open de España winner could not keep up with his playing partner’s remarkable scoring – although a bold tee shot to the 16th and a fourth birdie of the day from six feet did set up a tense finish.

 

A final round 67 gave him outright second on ten under par, and the considerable consolation of one of three places in The Open Championship at St Andrews in two weeks’ time.

 

“My game is improving every day; I’m doing all the right things,” said the 30 year old Morrison. “Bernd played too perfectly today. He won the golf tournament, it’s as simple as that. He played fantastic.”

 

Van Zyl and Rafa Cabrera-Bello claimed the other spots after finishing third and fifth respectively, with Kaymer sandwiched between the pair on seven under after finding water on the last and running up a double bogey.

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