Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland came from eight shots back to retain his French Open title in dramatic fashion on Sunday, when he carded a four-under 67 in pouring rain to win by one shot.
McDowell made the best of the tough conditions, making five birdies and a bogey for the lowest round of the day to finish with a five-under 279 total.
“That goes back to my upbringing a little bit in my teens, playing through all weather and conditions,” McDowell said. “Playing golf in bad weather is an art form. Some guys are good at it, some guys are not.”
Photo: AFP
Overnight leader Kevin Stadler only managed a 76 to share second place with Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, who carded a 72 at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.
The US’ Stadler still had a chance to win it on the last hole, but missed a long birdie putt before failing to force a playoff when he missed a three-footer for par.
“I think it’s very hard to lose the same tournament twice on the same day and I managed to do it,” the American said.
McDowell had seven top-10 finishes this year on the European Tour and PGA Tour before entering the tournament near Versailles.
“I’ve pretty much thought of myself a decent bad weather golfer, until the last five years,” he said. “I feel like I’m spending a little bit too much time in America. I’m a little bit soft and I needed that type of a day.”
Stadler went into the final round with a four-shot lead over Thongchai and Victor Riu, managing to get himself a five-stroke cushion when Frenchman Riu found water off the tee of the second hole for a double-bogey.
Soon, Stadler put himself in trouble by missing short par putts on No. 4 and No. 6. He then double-bogeyed No. 7 by hooking his tee shot into the rough before missing the fairway with his second shot, before another errant tee shot on No. 8 gave Riu a share of the lead.
“It was absolutely miserable,” the American said about the weather. “We don’t play in that stuff in the [United] States.”
Four players then shared the lead when McDowell and Jamie Donaldson of Wales made birdies on the 13th and 14th respectively, to join Stadler and Riu atop the leaderboard.
The Norther Irishman sank a birdie putt from more than 20 feet on No. 16 to move three strokes clear, but Stadler made a strong charge to get back into contention, tying the defending champion with a birdie on that same hole.
After finishing his round, McDowell was preparing for a playoff with Stadler, but a huge roar from the crowd told him the American had missed his par putt.
“Last night, I didn’t think I had a shot,” he said. “I had a glass of wine or two last night to kind of drown my frustration.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but