Antoine Rozner claimed his maiden European Tour title at the Golf in Dubai Championship presented by DP World after a stellar final round performance helped the Frenchman come from four shots back to seal a two-stroke victory at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
The 27-year-old was neck-and-neck with Andy Sullivan down the stretch but it was a superlative second shot into the par-five 18th hole which sealed the deal as a two-putt birdie earned the European Tour Rookie an eight under final round 64 and a 25 under total.
That moved him to 24th in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex as he looks forward to a debut in next week’s DP World Championship, Dubai, confident in the knowledge that his two Challenge Tour victories in 2019 came in back-to-back fashion.
Sullivan, who had led the field after each of the opening three rounds, had a disappointing day as two bogeys contributed to his worst round of the week, a two under 70 which left him in a share of second alongside three others.
Sullivan’s English compatriot Matt Wallace enjoyed a stunning back nine which comprised five birdies and four pars to sign for a four under 68 and a joint second place finish. Mike Lorenzo Vera’s second successive 65 meant he joined the English duo on 23 under, as did Italy’s Francesco Laporta, who finished with four birdies in a row for a closing 66 and the best result of his European Tour career.
“So many feelings. I’ve been close twice this year in Mauritius and in Valderrama, I couldn’t close it out, so I’m just very happy with how I played this week and especially today. A 64 on a Sunday is always a pretty good score so to get it done in this fashion was a big deal for me.
“To be honest I had no idea what was going on. I just knew Mike was playing well because I saw his name pop up at some point on the leaderboards. I only knew I was the leader when I was on the 18th green. I think that actually helped me a little bit, I didn’t want to know what was going on.
“I told my caddie I don’t want to know, we just need to keep pushing and doing what we’re doing, keep being aggressive and I think that was a good strategy.
“I was quite calm to be honest, I was a bit pumped up obviously. I’m really glad that last putt was really close because otherwise it would have been a long three- or four-footer. I’m really surprised with how I handled it to be honest, I just kept pushing until the last hole so that was the key for me.
“I knew I was in the final event already before this week, but to get it done and win a tournament is just amazing. I didn’t play any Rolex Series events this season so for me to play the biggest tournament of the year, the final, is a big deal. The top players will be there so I’m very excited to compete at the next level and I think it will be very challenging and interesting for me.”
Antoine Rozner after clinching the title
Final Scores
263 A ROZNER (FRA) 63 69 67 64,
265 A SULLIVAN (ENG) 61 66 68 70, M WALLACE (ENG) 63 67 67 68, F LAPORTA (ITA) 65 69 65 66, M LORENZO-VERA (FRA) 69 66 65 65,
267 G FORREST (SCO) 66 68 70 63,
268 R FISHER (ENG) 63 67 68 70,
269 N LEMKE (SWE) 66 68 66 69, S BROWN (ENG) 70 63 69 67, M WARREN (SCO) 64 70 68 67, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 67 68 67 67, B WIESBERGER (AUT) 70 66 66 67,
270 R PARATORE (ITA) 68 65 65 72, M SCHMITT (GER) 68 64 68 70, T OLESEN (DEN) 69 64 69 68, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 70 68 65 67, C SORDET (FRA) 68 70 66 66,
271 R KARLBERG (SWE) 65 69 71 66,
272 R MACINTYRE (SCO) 66 68 66 72, S SODERBERG (SWE) 67 69 68 68, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 72 67 66,
273 S CROCKER (USA) 68 66 68 71, L SCALISE (ITA) 65 68 71 69, D HORSEY (ENG) 71 67 68 67,
274 C HOWIE (SCO) 64 68 70 72, T PIETERS (BEL) 67 68 68 71, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 68 67 70 69, J SMITH (ENG) 69 68 68 69, P WARING (ENG) 68 68 72 66,
275 O LENGDEN (SWE) 64 69 67 75, S GALLACHER (SCO) 69 69 66 71, N KEARNEY (IRL) 71 67 66 71, M KORHONEN (FIN) 66 69 71 69, D WILLETT (ENG) 67 67 73 68, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 68 71 68, M BALDWIN (ENG) 71 70 67 67,
276 J AXELSEN (DEN) 66 67 71 72, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 68 68 69 71, M KAYMER (GER) 66 71 69 70, T DETRY (BEL) 68 72 66 70, J JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 66 70 72 68, P ANGLES (ESP) 65 73 71 67, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 72 67 71 66, M JORDAN (ENG) 73 68 69 66,
277 A KNAPPE (GER) 70 68 68 71, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 69 71 69, S HORSFIELD (ENG) 68 70 70 69, R ROCK (ENG) 70 70 68 69, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 70 67 73 67,
278 A RAI (ENG) 70 69 67 72, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 69 69 71 69,
279 H LONG (GER) 70 68 69 72, D PERRIER (FRA) 67 69 72 71, R WATTEL (FRA) 71 66 72 70, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 69 72 69 69,
280 H LI (CHN) 67 72 68 73, W BESSELING (NED) 73 65 71 71,
281 T PULKKANEN (FIN) 67 69 73 72, J SENIOR (ENG) 68 69 72 72, E WALKER (SCO) 71 70 70 70, M KEYSER (RSA) 70 69 73 69,
282 J FAHRBRING (SWE) 68 70 71 73, E CUARTERO BLANCO (ESP) 69 68 73 72, A WILSON (ENG) 74 67 70 71, M KINHULT (SWE) 69 72 71 70,
283 J CAMPILLO (ESP) 66 71 70 76,
285 E FERGUSON (SCO) 72 69 73 71,
287 J STALTER (FRA) 70 68 70 79, S TILEY (ENG) 69 71 70 77, J WRISDALE (ENG) 72 67 74 74,
288 P ORIOL (ESP) 73 68 76 71,
290 B EVANS (ENG) 71 66 77 76,
