Thomas Levet wins Alstom Open de France

Thomas Levet secured a memorable home victory in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National, Paris. The 42-year-old won by a single stroke from England's Mark Foster and Thorbjorn Oleson of Denmark.

Thomas Levet
Fergus Bisset
By Fergus Bisset
published

Thomas Levet secured a memorable home victory in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National, Paris. The 42-year-old won by a single stroke from England's Mark Foster and Thorbjorn Oleson of Denmark.

Levet posted a solid final round of 70 to hold firm as many of the other leading protagonists stumbled around the testing Golf National layout. Levet became only the second French winner of the tournament since it became part of the European Tour schedule in 1972 - Jean Francois Remesy won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005.

"All of my friends were here in the crowd. It's always nice to win in front of your home crowd," he said. "The way it went today was just like in a dream."

It was an emotional victory for Levet whose mother has been ill since Christmas.

"I was thinking about her a lot because she could not come to the French Open for the first time in 20 something years," he explained. "She is probably watching TV crying, basically, she won't believe it that I won. It's a pleasure."

Englishmen Mark Foster and James Morrison shared the lead through 54 holes but both struggled on the final day. Foster held it together until the 12th when a double-bogey put pay to his chances. Morrison started bogey, double bogey and was never able to get into the round. Scotland's Richie Ramsay also faltered down the stretch and posted a closing 76 to finish in a tie for fifth.

Germany's Martin Kaymer fired a disappointing closing round of 73 to end the week in fourth place, but he'll be able to console himself with the fact the performance was good enough for him to regain the World Number 3 position from Rory McIlroy.

Alstom Open de France Le Golf National, Paris, France Jun 30 - Jul 3 Purse: €3,000,000, par 71

1   Thomas Levet (Fra)   70   70   67   70   277   €500,000 T2   Mark Foster (Eng)   68   68   68   74   278   €260,565 T2   Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 66   71   71   70   278   €260,565 4   Martin Kaymer (Ger)   71   69   67   73   280   €150,000 T5   Simon Khan (Eng)   70   70   70   71   281   €116,100 T5   Richie Ramsay (Sco)   60   68   68   76   281   €116,100 T7   James Morrison (Eng)   66   66   72   78   282   €77,400 T7   Hennie Otto (RSA)   69   71   71   71   282   €77,400 T7   Brendan Steele (USA)   74   70   67   71   282   €77,400 10   Anthony Wall (Eng)   68   73   69   73   283   €60,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Fergus Bisset
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?

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