Romain Wattel wins KLM Open

“I have been in contention before and while I had not won before I knew what I had to do; I knew what I had to expect and thankfully this time it was my week. It feels amazing to win for the first time – I am so happy right now.”

"Iz it because I iz French?"

Good work, Romain Wattel, who won his first European Tour title after a dramatic finish at the KLM Open in Spijk. Wattel missed the green at the last and was faced with a difficult up and down if he was going to make it over the line. 

187th time lucky. Watch how Romain got it done

Frenchman Wattel went into the tournament with 25 top-ten finishes in his previous 186 events but he'd never managed to win. Nerves were clearly a factor as he came down the last but he successfully got up and down for par and a closing 69, which gave him a -15 total.

21-year-old Canadian Austin Connelly was on his way to victory until he found the  water with his second at 18 and made double to let Wattel in. A par would have given Connelly a 64 and a one shot victory. 

Connelly. AKA /The Baby Faced Assassin'...

“I came to this tournament, I was playing poorly to be honest,” said Romain. “Last week I struggled with my game. I am happy with the way I played all week. It’s been a very nice weekend. 

“I’ve been putting really bad the last two years – I think I’m a really good putter but the last two years were tough for me. 

“I never thought about the score, I just tried to play my best. I was just trying to be as high as I could on the leaderboard but it was very tight. I just tried to play my own game."

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