Alexander Levy produced a brilliant birdie-birdie finish to claim a stunning breakthrough victory at the Volvo China Open.
The 23 year old Frenchman, who took control of the tournament with a stunning course record ten under par 62 on Friday at the Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen, double bogeyed the 15th hole of the final round to see his lead cut to just one stroke, but he stamped his name all over the trophy with a fearless birdie-birdie finish to cruise to victory.
England’s Tommy Fleetwood carded a four under 68 to take second spot, with Alvaro Quiros two shots further back in third place.
World Number Three Henrik Stenson shot a final round 65 to surge to a tie for fifth with his Ryder Cup team mate Ian Poulter (67) and Denmark’s Anders Hansen (63), but the day undoubtedly belonged to Levy who announced his arrival on the global stage in remarkable fashion.
Key Player Quotes
Alexander Levy: “I am still realising what has happened. I am delighted to have won my first European Tour event here in China because it has been a great week. The last few months I have played some good golf and when I arrived here I really like the golf course. That was a good start and I just tried to stay patient and do a good job because I knew I liked the course and could possibly do well around here. The key for me to be successful is to be patient and to believe that I can win and also to keep smiling. When I play with a smile on my face I play well.”
Tommy Fleetwood: “I got off to the perfect start but just couldn’t drive it well enough on the back nine. My strength all week has been my driving, and I didn’t hit it in play enough on the back nine. But it’s been a fantastic week – it’s come off for me. I’ve been on a little bit of a dodgy stretch, so it’s nice to get myself up there again and get in the mix. But fair play to Alex, he has played great and deserves his win.”
Ian Poulter: “I came here to win this golf tournament. I felt it was a great opportunity. Albeit a new golf course, there were a few top-end players, top-20 players in the world that should figure on the board. Henrik (Stenson) came through today and had a run at it, and I’ve had a run at it, but I’m disappointed. There’s a couple of scores over the last two few days where guys have played exceptionally well and you have to try and run them down. All hats off to the guys who have played well, but I’m personally disappointed. Dropping five shots on Friday in two holes. It’s more than disappointing, it’s inexcusable. It put me too far behind and as much as I wanted to chase today, it was always going to be a tall order.”
Henrik Stenson: “I played nicely the other days as well but just didn’t get much going for me. Today I seemed to get a little bit of the luck that had been missing during the week. It was always going to be a tough week given that I had the flu, didn’t get a practice round and pretty much spent Tuesday and Wednesday in bed. Give all that, I will take the final result as a pretty decent week. As I said I just left a few shots out there but it was good to finish the week with my lowest round and to know that the game is there or thereabouts. It is very tight at the top of the world rankings at the moment but I am going to have to play a lot better than I have done on the early part of this year if I want to get to World Number One. It really feels like I have been starting to play a lot better over the past month and if I can keep working away then hopefully more good things will come.”
Talking Points
• Levy’s victory beats his previous best European Tour performance of third in the 2013 BMW International Open.
• He the sixth first-time winner of the 2014 season. They are: Morten Orum Madsen (South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni), George Coetzee (Joburg Open), Jason Day (WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship), Patrick Reed (WGC – Cadillac Championship), Marco Crespi (NH Collection Open) and Alexander Levy (Volvo China Open).
• His victory comes in his first appearance in the Volvo China Open.
• Becomes the first Frenchman to win the Volvo China Open.
• Becomes the 20th different winner of the Volvo China Open in the 20 years the event has been played.
• France becomes the 14th different country to win the Volvo French Open.
• Becomes the ninth player this season to win after leading after 54 holes.
• Becomes the first French winner on the 2014 European Tour season and the first French winner on The European Tour since Victor Dubuisson at the 2013 Turkish Airlines Open presented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Complete Round Four Scores:
269 A Levy (Fra);
273 T Fleetwood (Eng);
275 A Quiros (Esp);
276 F Molinari (Ita);
277 A Hansen (Den); H Stenson (Swe); I Poulter (Eng);
278 M Ilonen (Fin); R Cabrera-Bello (Esp); M Hoey (Nir); A Sullivan (Eng); S Dyson (Eng);
279 H Otto (RSA); E De La Riva (Esp);
280 P Il-Hwan (Kor); J Kruger (RSA); C Doak (Sco); N Elvira (Esp);
281 A Otaegui (Esp); P Meesawat (Tha); M Madsen (Den); J Quesne (Fra); G Bourdy (Fra);
282 S Jamieson (Sco); D Willett (Eng); M Brown (Nzl); R Jacquelin (Fra); S Strange (Aus); E Grillo (Arg); T Pilkadaris (Aus); D Horsey (Eng);
283 R Derksen (Ned); R Ramsay (Sco); L Slattery (Eng); M Kieffer (Ger);
284 R Santos (Por); O Fisher (Eng); O Zheng (Chn); P Larrazábal (Esp);
285 M Griffin (Aus); M Crespi (Ita); R Wattel (Fra); J Lima (Por); G Havret (Fra); T Lewis (Eng);
286 M Siem (Ger); R Bland (Eng); M Kawamura (Jpn); D Drysdale (Sco);
287 F Aguilar (Chi); K Ji-Man (Kor); L Hao-Tong (Chn); W Ashun (Chn);
288 T Hatton (Eng); L Wen-Chong (Chn); J Dufner (USA);
289 E Molinari (Ita); E Pepperell (Eng); G Bhullar (Ind);
290 S Benson (Eng); S Kjeldsen (Den); R Green (Aus);
291 B Rumford (Aus);
292 J Campillo (Esp);
293 S Khan (Eng); S Manley (Wal);
294 W Kang-Chun (Chn);
295 A Wall (Eng);
