Tom McKibbin saved his best for last at the FedEx Open de France at Le Golf National and climbed to 27th courtesy of a seven-under 64, while Englishman Dan Bradbury held his nerve to secure victory.
McKibbin’s week had been a largely frustrating one, with his Saturday 73 leaving him in a tie for 58th heading into the final round, and it looked as though it would be a similar story on Sunday when he bogeyed the par-5 third to slip to level-par overall. It’s a hole he’s struggled on all week, and the bogey meant he’d played it in two-over for the four rounds, but it would be the final bogey of the week.
Birdies on each of the following two holes was the perfect response, and he added another on the par-3 eighth to reach the turn at -2 on the day and -3 overall. Now in freewheel mode, he birdied 10, 11, 13, 16 and 17 for an inward 30 that saw him climb to T27 at the end of play and, perhaps more importantly, rises one place to 14th in the Race to Dubai rankings and to eighth place in the hunt for 10 PGA Tour cards on offer.
He tees it up again at next week’s Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters, where a strong finish could virtually guarantee his graduation to the PGA Tour.
At the business end of the leaderboard, the action was hot and heavy with well over a dozen players in contention throughout most of the fourth round. And it was Bradbury who finally emerged from the pack with three straight birdies on the back nine and held on to win at 16-under-par.
Playing in the penultimate group, Bradbury shot a bogey-free 66 on Sunday.
He celebrated his par putt at the last with a fist-pump and then watched from the scorers’ hut as Thorbjørn Olesen and Sam Bairstow also parred the hole to finish one behind, where they were tied with Jeff Winther and Yannik Paul.
Victory secured Bradbury’s place in the season-ending Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and DP World Tour Championship in neighbouring Dubai, and he quipped: “I guess I’ll be looking at flights to Dubai then!”
Jesper Svensson went into the final round with a one-stroke lead over playing partners Olesen and Bairstow. Olesen struck first with an opening birdie, while up ahead Bradbury had done likewise to move one off the lead.
Svensson dropped back with a three-putt but responded with birdie at the difficult second after a stunning tee-shot inside five feet. Olesen’s par putt stayed up as the pair traded places once more, but he too bounced back with an immediate birdie.
A series of pars for that group allowed others to move into contention and Brandon Stone, who had teed off over two hours before them, made a significant move with a round of 64.
The South African moved into a share of the lead with a ninth birdie of the day at the 14th. His bogey at the 17th, and Olesen’s at the ninth, meant there was briefly an 11-way tie for the lead on 12 under until Bairstow holed his birdie putt.
The latter then holed from 46 feet at the 11th, making him he first player to reach 14 under. He was joined by Winther after a good up-and-down from a bunker at the 14th.
Bairstow birdied the 12th but bogeyed the 13th, allowing Winther to take the lead after a superb tee shot set up a birdie at the par-three 16th.
Fabrizio Zanotti holed excellent birdie putts at the 14th and 16th to move within one and Olesen’s brilliant bunker shot at the 14th took him alongside compatriot Winther.
Bradbury joined them after he narrowly avoided the water at the 15th and held the green before holing from 15 feet.
He admitted afterwards that was the moment he felt it was his day, saying: “Obviously got lucky off the tee, then just straight up pushed it – luckily it stayed on, and I hit a horrendous putt that went in!
“Sometimes you just need that. Once I’d done that it felt like, ‘there’s definitely something going for me’.”
Bairstow followed with a birdie at the same hole but a third straight birdie for Bradbury took him ahead at 16 under.
Winther set the clubhouse target at 15 under and was joined by Paul, whose birdie putt at the last shaved the hole.
Bradbury seemed relaxed going down the 18th, taking off his cap and joking that he should have had a haircut for the television cameras, and held his nerve to two-putt from distance.
Olesen and Bairstow still had the chance to catch him with a birdie but when their putts stayed up, Bradbury could celebrate.
“It hasn’t sunk in at all,” he said. “The goal this week was to make the cut so I didn’t have to go to Korea (needing to) keep my card.
“I remember looking at one point, playing with Gunner (Wiebe) and Joe (Dean), they were both two shots behind me and I was second and they were, like, 14th. Part of me was just thinking, ‘well, don’t drop a few!’.
“It was just, stay in it – we all know the finish round here, anything can happen, and it almost did.”
Behind the tie for second, Matthew Jordan and Francesco Laporta shared sixth on 14 under with Johannes Veerman – who made the cut on the line after completing round two on Saturday morning, before finishing 63-67 – alongside Wiebe on 13 under. Stone and Simon Forsström shared 10th.