Langasque storms to first tour victory

Romain Langasque stormed to victory at the ISPS Handa Wales Open, overturning a five-stroke deficit to win his first European Tour title.

The Frenchman started the final day at The Celtic Manor Resort in a share of sixth, five shots behind 54-hole co-leaders Sebastian Soderberg and Connor Syme, but the deficit was cut to just one stroke after his second birdie of the day on the sixth hole.
The 2015 Amateur Champion continued to lurk one shot back after another gain on the ninth but drew level with a fourth birdie of the day on the par five 11th hole. Successive birdies at the 15th and 16th holes saw the 25-year-old sign for a bogey-free 65 and an eight-under-par total as a nervous wait followed.

Bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes dashed Syme's hopes of a maiden European Tour victory and both he and Soderberg found the water at the par five 18th, which ultimately ended the Swede's chances at the eleventh hour.
"I was playing really good since the start of the week, I was only focusing on doing my thing – that was the only objective I had on Monday with my coach. I’m so happy with the way I played the back nine, I played really, really good, I had so many birdie opportunities. The second shot on 16 and the first shot on 17 were my two best shots of the week. That shows that the work we have done the past few weeks has worked, and I’m pretty happy," said Langasque after his victory.
Langasque's victory elevated him to 31st in the 2020 Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, and also earned him a place in next month's U.S. Open after he moved inside the top ten on the UK Swing Order of Merit. The top ten golfers not already exempt on that list, including Syme and runner up Sami Välimäki of Finland, have now secured their berths at Winged Foot.

UK Swing rankings