rench speaking Belgian Nicholas Colsearts was very emotional after surviving the back nine at Le Golf National to claim the Open de France. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

NICOLAS Colsaerts won his first European Tour title in seven years as Le Golf National lived up to its reputation on a dramatic closing day of the Amundi Open de France.

The big hitting Belgian entered Sunday with a three-shot lead and quickly extended that to five in testing wet conditions.

But the oldest national open in continental Europe would go right to the wire during one of the most incredible back nines of the 2019 Race to Dubai.

George Coetzee led by two with six to play and Joachim B Hansen was in the box seat after the leading pair found water on the 15^th – following a Colsaerts eagle on the 14^th.

But when Hansen triple bogied the 17^th to relinquish the lead, the 36-year-old held his nerve to sign for a 72 and get to 12-under.

The victory is Colsaerts’ third on the European Tour but his first since 2012 – the season he was part of the Miracle at Medinah as Europe came from 10-4 behind to win the Ryder Cup.

Colsearts said: “It’s super special. I’ve been coming here for more than 15 years. I’ve been coming here for so long and missed out a bunch of times, and to do it here, to do this like this, where at the end it was a pretty dramatic, makes it even better.

“I made a big mistake on 15. I thought it was slowly slipping away. I knew there was always going to be a chance because the last holes, anything can happen.

“It was a surprise to come on 17 and find out what JB had done. But like I said, when you hole the last putt like this, and you come out on top, it’s really a special feeling.

“I was kind of looking for a week like this where everything sort of clicked together. I didn’t really have a week like that for a long, long time.

“It changes everything for me for the next couple of years. Lighter schedule. I have a wife at home and a little kid now that I am going to be able to spend a bit more time with now, which is nice.”

Colsearts had entered the week battling to keep his card and cut an emotional figure as he ended a victory drought of seven years and five months in his 389th European Tour appearance.

Dane Hansen carded a closing round of 68 to finish one shot behind Colsaerts, with South African Coetzee at 10-under par after a level par round of 71.

Hansen, looking for his first win in his fourth full season on the European Tour since 2013, said: “The back nine got exciting.

“I really got to feel how it is to play for a European Tour tournament. The screw-up on 17 cost me a chance this week unfortunately. Disappointed now but also really proud of my game,” said the two-time winner on the 2018 European Challenge Tour season.

“I’ve been playing well for three weeks now, and put myself in good positions. So getting really close this week was really nice, but just also really want that win.”

Coetzee, who produced an array of stunning iron approaches with some wayward tee shots, which ultimately cost him after his double on the 15th, said: “I was quite happy with the way I played.

“Just one bad hole. But really happy for Nico, he played really well and it means a lot to him.

“That’s why I don’t feel that bad because that is one of those holes (the 15^th) that you can make a number and I made my number.”

American Kurt Kitayama finished in solo fourth at nine-under par despite making a quadruple bogey eight at the par three second after clawing the dropped shots back over the next 16 holes.

It puts the two-time winner who came through the European Tour Qualifying School in pole position to be named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, with just one more regular tour event left on the 2019 schedule in Portugal, this week.

Germany’s two-time Major winner Martin Kaymer, Scotland’s Richie Ramsay and Ireland’s Gavin Moynihan were a shot further back.

Belgium’s Thomas Detry, Chilean Hugo Leon and Northumberland’s Chris Paisley were all tied on seven-under.

•For full scores at Le Golf National click here.

The post Colsearts relieved he can play happy families as card fear vanishes with Paris win appeared first on Golf North.

Jon Rahm’s successful defence of the Spanish Open title made him the quickest Iberian player to win five titles on the European Tour. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

JON Rahm successfully defended a title for the first time in his career as he stormed to a five-stroke victory at the Mutuactivos Open de España – as Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Samuel Del Val made it a Spanish one-two-three.

The 24-year-old secured his fifth European Tour title in just his 39^th start, becoming the fastest Spaniard to reach five victories – surpassing the late, great Seve Ballesteros, who reached that milestone on his 49^th appearance.

Rahm said: “I started getting comfortable around 13, after that the only tough tee shot for me was 14 because I have to hit a draw, and I’m not the best drawer of the ball with the driver.

“That was the only one I wanted to skip – but I almost made an eagle. After that I was trying to enjoy the walk.

“I’m not happy I three-putted 17, I wanted to go bogey free. At the end of the day, I did the important thing.

“I was able to successfully defend it and in front of a home crowd as well, it’s always hard for me to keep things under control – to play this weekend for them is always really fun.

“I can’t wait to come back next year and hopefully we’ll make it three times.

“The crowd was unlike anything else. Spanish crowds love golf and they love us coming back,” the former Arizona State University golfer, who also reached No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings before turning pro, in 2016.

“Any time you get an event with two of the best players from Spain together alongside Adri and Samuel, he’s having a good year too, they enjoy it so much, said Rahm.

“I played with him (Arnaus) in Valderrama, they’re enjoying it too. We had a lot of fun, every putt, every shot.

“It’s hard to believe how many people come out here. I play a lot of tournaments throughout the year that don’t get this much attendance.

“So it shows how much Spain wants golf – how much they want more events and how much they enjoy it.

“It’s great for the game of golf, it’s great for Spain and hopefully it can only get bigger.”

Rahm started the final round at Madrid’s Club de Campo Villa, in the Spanish capital with a five-stroke lead and quickly extended his advantage to seven strokes after an eagle on the par five fourth hole and two further gains before the turn.

He signed for a tournament record-equalling 22-under par total after birdies on the 10th and 14^th holes, finishing five strokes ahead of Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who recorded his best result in his national open after birdieing five of his last six holes for a five-under 66.

Rahm moves to the top of the Race to Dubai rankings after his second victory of the 2019 season, adding to his Dubai Duty Free Irish Open title.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who was looking for his first win since the 2017 Scottish Open – and his first Spanish Open – said: “I would have liked to get some birdies early to put some pressure on Jon, but that didn’t happen.

“I had to hang in there, fight for the second spot and I was very pleased that the birdies came at the end.

“He already had a big lead from the start. You could see that cut in half after three or four holes and it changes your perspective – but that didn’t happen, it went the other way.

“Once he eagled four, seven shots was a commanding lead. It was his tournament to lose and he played great,” added Cabrera-Bello, who had hoped to get a captain’s pick for last year’s Ryder Cup in Paris, where he could have been possibly paired with Rahm, or Sergio Garcia, after making his debut in 2016, in the defeat by the USA, at Hazeltine.

“All I could do was focus on my ball, try to finish second and I managed to do that,” said Rafa.

Samuel Del Val rounded-out an all-Spanish top three as he signed for a 68 to get to 15-under.

Del Val, who has been globe-trotting in his bid to earn full playing rights on a major tour, including Canada and Latin America, said: “It’s been incredible. I felt like I played much better today than yesterday.

“I was just trying to play my game. He had a five-shot lead, I know I wasn’t capable of getting him. I wasn’t focused on anyone else.

“At the end the race was for second place between Rafa and me, and he played great with five birdies on his last six holes. I’m really happy with the performance.”

“The score was one shot better but yesterday I was hanging on for dear life.

“It was a bit like a chess game, finding the right angles and the right spots. I’m really happy with a three-under.

His compatriot Adri Arnaus continued his fine rookie year on the European Tour as he finished in a share of fourth place with Danes Joachim B Hansen and Jeff Winther.

Sergio Garcia was the fifth Spaniard inside the top five after his round of 66, sharing seventh with four others.

Final scores:
262 J Rahm (Esp) 66 67 63 66,
267 R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 66 65 70 66,
269 S Del Val (Esp) 67 65 69 68,
271 J Winther (Den) 70 69 69 63, J Hansen (Den) 69 69 67 66, A Arnaus (Esp) 65 66 72 68,
272 M Kawamura (Jpn) 70 67 68 67, J Scrivener (Aus) 67 68 68 69, J Harding (RSA) 69 72 64 67, S Garcia (Esp) 69 69 69 65, Z Lombard (RSA) 67 67 69 69,
273 J Dantorp (Swe) 67 70 65 71, A Pavan (Ita) 66 75 67 65, F Zanotti (Par) 71 69 65 68,
274 J Morrison (Eng) 70 70 69 65, A Levy (Fra) 70 69 67 68,
275 A Cañizares (Esp) 72 69 68 66, C Hill (Sco) 69 72 65 69, N McCarthy (Eng) 70 68 71 66, N Colsaerts (Bel) 67 73 71 64, R Fisher (Eng) 69 68 70 68, M Korhonen (Fin) 70 65 72 68,
276 J Singh Brar (Eng) 68 69 70 69, E Molinari (Ita) 69 69 69 69, D Papadatos (Aus) 70 71 65 70, J Donaldson (Wal) 66 71 69 70, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 70 70 69 67, N Bertasio (Ita) 69 67 71 69, T Aiken (RSA) 72 68 70 66,
277 A Wu (Chn) 68 71 70 68, B Rumford (Aus) 70 71 66 70, C Hanson (Eng) 68 74 66 69,
278 P Larrazábal (Esp) 70 69 70 69, P Figueiredo (Por) 71 68 70 69, M Jiménez (Esp) 68 73 70 67, R Karlberg (Swe) 70 68 68 72,
279 S Brown (Eng) 68 68 70 73, S Kim (USA) 67 74 67 71, E De La Riva (Esp) 68 73 70 68, B Evans (Eng) 71 68 73 67, N Elvira (Esp) 73 66 70 70, D Burmester (RSA) 66 71 72 70, P Langfors (Swe) 68 68 72 71, L Slattery (Eng) 69 73 67 70,
280 J Veerman (USA) 71 71 69 69, D Horsey (Eng) 71 70 68 71, R Lumsden (Sco) 70 70 71 69, A Romero (Arg) 76 66 69 69,
281 M Kieffer (Ger) 72 70 65 74, J McLeod (Aus) 68 70 75 68,
282 A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 70 69 73 70, D Lipsky (USA) 68 73 70 71, B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 69 73 70, K Johannessen (Nor) 63 73 76 70,
283 S Chawrasia (Ind) 70 71 73 69, J Girrbach (Sui) 73 67 68 75, C Sordet (Fra) 74 68 67 74, J Suri (USA) 72 70 70 71, B Virto (Esp) 70 69 73 71, D Lawson (Aus) 68 71 72 72,
284 A Otaegui (Esp) 67 69 73 75, G Forrest (Sco) 73 69 71 71,
285 A Karlsson (Swe) 70 71 73 71, M Siem (Ger) 66 69 76 74, J Catlin (USA) 71 71 69 74, D Drysdale (Sco) 69 72 75 69,
286 M Nixon (Eng) 67 75 70 74,
290 J Walters (RSA) 69 72 74 75,
MISSED CUT: 143 R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 73, G Bourdy (Fra) 72 71, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 71 72, D Berna Manzanares (Esp) 71 72, L Gagli (Ita) 72 71, M Orrin (Eng) 70 73, L Jensen (Den) 71 72, M Manassero (Ita) 68 75, D Gavins (Eng) 71 72, M Fraser (Aus) 73 70, H Li (Chn) 74 69, A Quiros (Esp) 72 71, S Fernandez (Esp) 73 70,
144 N Lemke (Swe) 68 76, D Cooke (USA) 70 74, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 71 73, K Koivu (Fin) 72 72, A Hortal (Esp) 71 73, J Choi (Kor) 72 72, J Colomo (Esp) 69 75, N Tinning (Den) 72 72, S Crocker (USA) 76 68, M Schmitt (Ger) 72 72 , J Wang (Kor) 70 74, A Björk (Swe) 71 73,
145 J Pastor (Esp) 74 71, G Bhullar (Ind) 67 78, N Cullen (Aus) 71 74, H Leon (Chi) 72 73, M Galiano Aguilar (Esp) 69 76, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 72 73, P Oriol (Esp) 70 75,
146 G Moynihan (Irl) 74 72, T Jaidee (Tha) 73 73, K Reitan (Nor) 74 72, N Højgaard (Den) 71 75, J Adarraga Gomez (Esp) 70 76, T Murray (Eng) 70 76, O Wilson (Eng) 74 72, E Kofstad (Nor) 76 70,
147 R Gouveia (Por) 70 77, D Howell (Eng) 75 72, A Connelly (Can) 76 71, A Saddier (Fra) 73 74, A Del Rey(am) (Esp) 74 73, K Kouwenaar (am) (Ned) 73 74,
148 J Campillo (Esp) 76 72, P Dunne (Irl) 75 73, R McGowan (Eng) 73 75, R Paratore (Ita) 71 77, W Ormsby (Aus) 76 72, M Hoey (Nir) 73 75, L Johnston (Sco) 73 75,
149 J Olazábal (Esp) 73 76, J Salama (Esp) 71 78, C Saxon (USA) 75 74, S Manley (Wal) 76 73, M Warren (Sco) 74 75, D Borda (Esp) 73 76,
150 M Campbell (Nzl) 79 71, G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 76 74,
151 R Wattel (Fra) 76 75, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 75 76,
152 J Abbott (Eng) 79 73, C Del Moral (Esp) 77 75,
154 V Pastor (am) (Esp) 76 78,
155 A Velasco (Esp) 78 77,
** S Gregory (Eng) 71 DQ, L De Jager (RSA) 72 RT, N Geyger (Chi) DQ

The post Rahm defends Spanish Open title with runaway win over Cabrera-Bello and Del Val appeared first on Golf North.