England’s Dan Bradbury emerged from a highly-congested leaderboard to claim his second DP World Tour title in the FedEx Open de France.
A total of 11 players were tied for the lead in the closing stages at Le Golf National, but it was Bradbury who made the decisive move with a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th.
The 25-year-old from Wakefield, who won the Joburg Open in November 2022 in just his third start, held his nerve to par the daunting 18th for a closing 66, setting a clubhouse target of 16 under par.
England’s Sam Bairstow and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, who missed good birdie chances on the 16th and 17th, were both unable to birdie the last to force a play-off, with Germany’s Yannik Paul and Denmark’s Jeff Winther having already finished on 15 under.
Bradbury, who began the day two shots behind Sweden’s Jesper Svensson, admitted he rode his luck on the 15th hole, where his drive stopped inches from the water.
“Obviously got lucky off the tee but I feel like I’ve had a few bad breaks this week so quite nice to get a good one there,” Bradbury told Sky Sports.
“And then just pushed it (the second shot), straight up pushed it and luckily it stayed on (the green). Hit a horrendous putt that went in and sometimes you just need that.
“Once I’d done that, I was like ‘It doesn’t feel like my day, but there’s definitely something going for me’.”
Bradbury began the week ranked 98th in the Race to Dubai but will climb to 25th, making him eligible for the season-ending play-off events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
“The goal this week was to make the cut so I don’t have to go to Korea and try to keep my card, to be honest with you, so to hear that sounds pretty good,” he added.
“I guess I’ll be looking at flights to Dubai then.”
Winther had been the first player to finish 15 under following a superb closing 64, the 36-year-old ultimately left to rue missing from inside five feet for birdie on the par-five ninth.
“It felt easy,” Winther said. “I was trying to put the golf a little aside, make fun a little bit with my caddie, and he was making fun of me. Makes it a lot easier, doesn’t it?
“The goal was fairways and greens and hope my putter is working. It was working lovely today. Just one (missed) putt on nine, but I can’t really complain about that, I misread it completely.
“Otherwise played really solid. Got away with the screw-ups I made. I made a crazy birdie on five. It should have been a bogey or a double but turned out to be a birdie.
“Very, very pleased over the weekend to be bogey-free so can’t complain.”
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