Thomas Levet wins Open de España

Thomas Levet of France carded a final round of 68 to hold off Fabrizio Zanotti and a charging Thomas Björn to win the Open de España at PGA Golf Catalunya in Girona.

Thomas Levet

Thomas Levet of France carded a final round of 68 to hold off Fabrizio Zanotti and a charging Thomas Björn to win the Open de España at PGA Golf Catalunya in Girona.

The 40-year-old carried a two-shot advantage over England’s Stuart Davis into the final round but stumbled with two bogeys in the first four holes. But, the Frenchman rallied and three birdies in a row from the sixth hole saw him regain the advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

As Davis faltered, Björn gained ground with a back-nine charge that included four birdies and an eagle. But the Dane came up just shy and, when Levet birdied the 17th, he gave himself a comfortable advantage down the closing hole. He made a regulation par and picked up his fifth European Tour title plus a cheque for €333,330.

The Frenchman dedicated his victory to Seve Ballesteros who is still undergoing chemotherapy for a brain tumour. “I always think about Seve, he is having a hard time at the moment,” he said. “Seve, I dedicate this win to you.”

Zanotti of Paraguay ended the week as Levet’s closest challenger. He signed for a superb last round of 65 that saw him finish alone in second place. “I played well under pressure, because I had never been in this position before.” He said.

Defending champion Peter Lawrie made a great effort to retain his title, finishing tied with Björn on -14 four shots back from Levet. Rafael Cabrera-Bello was the best placed of the home players. He finished in a tie for sixth.

Open de España PGA Golf Catalunya, Girona, Spain Apr 30 – May 3, purse €2,000,000, par 72

1    Thomas Levet (Fra)    64    67    71    68    270    €333,330 2    Fabrizio Zanotti (Par)    71    70    66    65    272    €222,220 T3    Thomas Björn (Den)    70    67    71    66    274    €112,600 T3    Peter Lawrie (Ire)        68    66    71    69    274    €112,600 5    Charl Schwartzel (RSA)    67    73    69    69    278    €84,800 T6    Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 70 67    74    68    279    €65,000 T6    Marcel Siem (Ger)    67    70    72    70    279    €65,000 T8    Grégory Bourdy (Fra)    71    71    72    66    280    €44,933 T8    David Horsey (Eng)    72    70    72    66    280    €44,933 T8    José Manuel Lara (Esp)    65    73    71    71    280    €44,933

Note: Players in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?