Phil Golding carded a two under par round of 70 to claim his second European Senior Tour title at the rain-delayed French Riviera Masters at the Terre Blanche Hotel Spa Golf Resort in Provence.

The Englishman had led the field by four shots after opening rounds of 64 and 69 and was still three in front after 13 holes of his final round when a fierce electric storm caused play to be halted.

The competitors returned to the course just over two hours later and Golding played his last six five in one under par to claim a four shot victory over Argentina’s Cesar Monasterio on15 under par 201.

Monasterio also carded a 70 to finish on 205 while defending champion Peter Fowler closed with a five under par 67 to share third place with Barry Lane and John Gould a single shot further behind.

Golding lost out to Paul Wesselingh in his previous start in the WINSTONgolf Senior Open in Germany but he made up for that with his third Tour victory on French soil.

“It was tough today. I got off to a poor start when I bogeyed the first and missed a few putts after that. I don’t like looking at leaderboards but I knew Barry and Cesar were doing well so it was good to get a birdie on 11.

“That settled me down a bit and when I birdied both the 13th and 14th that gave me a bit of breathing space.

“There must be something about French air I like because that‘s the third time I have won here. It’s a great feeling because it has been a year since I won the Welsh Senior Open and after a while a few doubts can creep into your mind if you aren’t careful.”

Monasterio has won already this season at the English Senior Open and he came close to duplicating that feat with rounds of 66, 69 and 70.

“I played well but Phil had a very good back nine and in the end none of us could get close to him. But it was another good week for me and another top ten finish.”

Fowler carded three birdies and an eagle on the sixth to add a 67 to his opening rounds of 68 and 71 and left for Holland delighted with his performance.

“It was a good defence of my title. In the end I have come up a couple of shots shorts but I’m pleased with the way I played.

“The weather delay came at a bad time for all of us but it’s the sort of thing that happens from time to time and you just have to get on with it. The course was definitely playable after the re-start. The fairways were very wet but there was nothing wrong with the greens. They held up very well considering the amount of rain we’ve had this afternoon.”

Gould produced his best finish since a tie for second place at the 2010 Benahavis Senior Masters.

 “It’s been a while since I have made a top ten but I played well last week in Germany and just carried on from there.

“The highlight of the day was my eagle at the 12th. I hit a rescue off the tee and then hit a great little wedge from about 155 yards which sucked back in the hole. It came at a nice time because I didn’t birdie the par five 11th so it helped to keep things going.

“My goal this week was to get a top-10 finish because that secured me a place in next week’s tournament in Holland. You want to play all the events and now that I’m in Holland the plan now is to see if I can secure my card for next year.”

The round of the day came from former Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam who started out in a share of 34th place after opening rounds of 74 and 70 but moved all the way up to tenth place after a superb six under par 66 that included a blistering back nine of 31.

The Welshman opened his round with a birdie on the first but he was still only one under the card until hit a rescue club into eight feet for an eagle on the 11th. The former world number one then went on to gain another shot on the 13th before finishing his round with a flourish with two more birdies on the 16th and 17th holes.

“That was much more like it today. I’ve been to see Jacques Rivet, the biomechanics gut here at the European Tour Performance Institute here at Terre Blanche, and I have been working hard for the last four days on what he told me.

“There was nothing wrong with my swing it was just the way I was standing to the ball. He told me I had too much weight right toe and my left heel. He wanted to get me the completely opposite way round with more weight on my right heel and left toe and it seems to have done the trick.

It’s something I’m going to have to work on but it means I can now look forward to next week with a bit more confidence. I have been searching and searching for something that works but maybe I have found it this time.”

Woosnam’s next competitive outing is this week in Amsterdam where he joins two other former Ryder Captains, Sam Torrance and Mark James in the field for the Dutch Senior Open.

Final Scores:

201 P Golding (Eng) 64 67 70,

205 C Monasterio (Arg) 66 69 70,

206 P Fowler (Aus) 68 71 67, J Gould (Eng) 70 67 69, B Lane (Eng) 68 70 68,

207 G Wolstenholme (Eng) 68 71 68, R Gibson (Can) 68 68 71,

208 T Thelen (USA) 70 70 68, S Brown (Eng) 68 69 71,

210 I Woosnam (Wal) 74 70 66, M Martin (Esp) 67 72 71,

211 B Conser (USA) 69 72 70, G Turner (Nzl) 71 69 71,

212 G Emerson (Eng) 65 72 75, S Tinning (Den) 72 69 71, J Quiros (Esp) 67 74 71, P Linhart (Esp) 70 71 71, G Rusnak (USA) 75 68 69, P Wesselingh (Eng) 71 72 69,

213 D Hospital (Esp) 70 71 72, R Rafferty (Nir) 70 71 72,

214 G Manson (Aut) 70 74 70, R Drummond (Sco) 69 73 72, A Oldcorn (Sco) 72 70 72, J Remesy (Fra) 71 72 71, T Price (Aus) 68 74 72, D Russell (Eng) 72 73 69, D Smyth (Irl) 68 70 76,

215 M Harwood (Aus) 71 74 70, S McAllister (Sco) 70 75 70, M Davis (Eng) 75 68 72, J Smith (USA) 72 71 72, J Carriles (Esp) 71 72 72,

216 B Cameron (Eng) 71 72 73, G Joyner (Aus) 74 68 74, M Mackenzie (Eng) 72 69 75,

217 J Sallat (Fra) 72 74 71, D O’Sullivan (Irl) 73 72 72, M Cunning (USA) 73 74 70, M Mouland (Wal) 74 70 73, C Mason (Eng) 71 72 74,

218 S Luna (Esp) 72 76 70, M Farry (Fra) 74 73 71,

219 A Bossert (Sui) 76 71 72, P Eales (Eng) 72 72 75, W Grant (Eng) 69 74 76, G Ryall (Eng) 78 73 68, R Sabarros (Fra) 71 76 72,

220 M Bianco (Ita) 72 75 73, A Franco (Par) 68 78 74,

221 A Sherborne (Eng) 75 72 74, P Jonas (Can) 75 71 75, G Brand Jnr (Sco) 75 71 75, N Ratcliffe (Aus) 77 71 73, S Cipa (Eng) 72 76 73,

222 F Illouz (Fra) 72 75 75, J Rivero (Esp) 75 71 76, B Longmuir (Sco) 70 76 76, L Carbonetti (Arg) 74 71 77, J Bruner (USA) 76 70 76, N Job (Eng) 73 75 74,

223 K Spurgeon (Eng) 71 81 71,

224 J Berendt (Arg) 74 72 78, P Walton (Irl) 75 76 73,

229 M McLean (Eng) 78 76 75,

231 G Cali (Ita) 76 78 77,

233 G Brand (Eng) 73 78 82, C Williams (RSA) 81 79 73,

235 A Garrido (Esp) 76 78 81, G Banister (Aus) 78 81 76, D Durnian (Eng) 77 80 78,