With a course-record 9-under 62 in the final round on Sunday, Guido Migliozzi defeated Rasmus Højgaard to win the Open de France by producing the Italian’s impressive nine birdies.
Migliozzi, 25, won for the third time on the European Tour, his first in three years, and one he will remember for a long time.
Migliozzi finished at 16-under 268, one shot ahead of Højgaard with two holes to play. On the 17th, the 21-year-old Dane left looking for a birdie on the par-4 18th to force a playoff.
But Højgaard, who led after posting a personal-best 62 in Thursday’s opening round, ran into the rough. He landed his approach cleanly, but needed 48-feet for birdie and missed seven feet to finish 3-over 68 for 15 overall. It was a bittersweet contest for Højgaard, considering he had a six-shot lead in Thursday’s round and after the second round.
France’s Paul Baron (70), South Africa’s George Coetzee (71) and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters (70) failed to put pressure on the field the previous day, finishing four shots behind Hodgegaard in third place at 11-under.
Højgaard held a slim one-shot lead over Coates after a terrible start to Saturday’s third round, finishing with a 3-over 74.
But he put those bad memories aside in style as he began the final round, with a birdie on hole No. 2 and an eagle — his first of the tournament — on the next. But he bogeyed Nos. 8 and 9 as Coetzee — a five-time European Tour winner — ranked 13-under.
Then it was Migliozzi’s turn to move up the leaderboard by shooting five consecutive birdies on Nos. 6-10 to move within one shot of Bargeon and Peters at the halfway point.
Coetzee fell behind after a triple bogey at the 15th and Migliozzi’s relentless pressure finally caught up to Højgaard.
The competition was not held in the last two years due to the corona virus.
