Co-leader at the start of the 4th round, the Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick, 26, wins the last meeting of the year on the European Tour. His compatriot Lee Westwood, won his third Race after 2000 and 2009. The Frenchman Victor Perez took the 7th place in the final.
Four years later, Matthew Fitzpatrick is doing it again. Co-leader at -11 at the start of the last lap of the DP World Tour Championshipwith Laurie Canter and Patrick Reed, the native of Sheffield indeed won a second success in this final meeting of the European Tour, the first since September 2018 and his victory in Switzerland at Crans-sur-Sierre (Omega European Masters). The former Ryder Cup player (in 2016 at Hazeltine) essentially built his near-perfect day with a great start, slamming four birdies on his first four holes, even increasing his lead with a fifth “feat” at hole 7 . Hyper solid especially in putting, this big fan of the Sheffield United football team (Premier League) then skilfully managed his lead, mostly between three and four strokes and taking advantage of the obvious lack of reaction from his main opponents, especially the American Patrick Reed, author of an astonishing bogey on the yet very accessible by 5 of 2.
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However, a chill crossed the spine of the Englishman on the par 3 of 17 when he could not avoid a bogey after a very random throw-in, flirting with the nearby pond. At the start of the 18th, he was then only one point ahead of his compatriot Lee Westwood, author of an end of the game worthy of a real adventurer not really born of the last rain with two birdies made in the 16th. then at 18. But to the mind, and releasing a big sigh of relief after his successful putt for the par, Fitzpatrick was finally able to express his joy, warmly congratulating his experienced caddy, Billy Foster, and receiving the kiss of love. of his companion on the outskirts of the same 18 green. With this very fine victory, he took the opportunity to generously round up his bank account with the 3 million dollars allocated to the winner, plus the 1.2 million additional dollars reserved for the second of the Race.
With a score of 273 (-15) and an ultimate 68 (-4), he is finally ahead of a length Lee Westwood, 47, the other big winner of this day in December in the Emirates. By finishing only second at -14 (274), the veteran of Worksop thus won for the third time the European Order of Merit after 2000 and 2009. The big loser of this week is obviously Patrick Reed, who could have been the first American to register his name on the Race winners. But his sluggish start on this last lap, coupled with Matthew Fitzpatrick’s impressive rush on the first holes of the first leg, got the better of his ambitions. Despite a little game still so bright (see below), the winner of the Masters 2018 had to be content with a 70 (-2), as in the opening Thursday, and a third place at -13 (275), tied with the Norwegian Viktor Hovland, 23, very great future of world golf. Third, it is also his final classification in the Race …
Author of a magnificent long-distance birdie on the 18th, the Frenchman Victor Perez ended his year unlike any other with a seventh final place (-10) and a top 10 in the Race (6th). This new very good performance, after his second place at the beginning of October in the BMW PGA Championship, places him in any case among the very best European golfers.
“Overall, it’s a good week, especially physically and mentally, analyzes the Tarbais at the microphone of our colleagues from Golf+. This allowed me to hold on and finish a lap today on three birdies (14, 16 and 18) when it was not necessarily well engaged with a stray drive at 1, a bogey at 2 then a new bogey at 4. I still managed to recover mentally and to end my day well (68). It wasn’t easy to finish at -10, but I’m very happy with my performance. I gave everything. “
The three other tricolors present this week in the Emirates complete this DP World Tour Championship beyond 35th place: Antoine Rozner (36th to -2), Matthieu Pavon (54th to +3) and Benjamin Hébert (61st to +6) .
The European Tour is now going “dormant” for a few weeks while the 2021 calendar will be unveiled this Tuesday, December 15. We will take the path of the fairways, still in the Middle East, during the third week of January, near Abu Dhabi. Again in the United Arab Emirates.
The French having played the final of the Race since its establishment in 2009
2009: Thomas Levet (23rd), Grégory Bourdy and Raphaël Jacquelin (30th). 58 players entered.
2010: Raphaël Jacquelin (21st), Grégory Havret (35th), Grégory Bourdy (41st). 60 players engaged.
2011: Grégory Bourdy (29th), Thomas Levet (42nd), Grégory Havret and Raphaël Jacquelin (48th). 58 players entered.
2012 : Raphaël Jacquelin (16e), Romain Wattel (21e), Victor Dubuisson (36th). 57 engaged players.
2013: Victor Dubuisson (3rd), Grégory Bourdy (21st), Raphaël Jacquelin (44th), Julien Quesne (47th). 56 players entered. (Dubuisson 7th in the Race).
2014: Victor Dubuisson (2nd), Alexander Levy (26th), Romain Wattel (36th). 60 players engaged. (Levy 7th in the Race, Dubuisson 10th. It is the only time that two French people have finished in the final top 10 of the Race).
2015: Victor Dubuisson (13th), Gary Stal (22nd), Grégory Bourdy (38th), Alexander Levy (46th), Raphaël Jacquelin (48th), Julien Quesne (53rd). 60 players engaged. (Dubuisson 10th in the Race).
2016: Victor Dubuisson (4th), Julien Quesne (23rd), Alexander Levy (27th), Grégory Bourdy (35th), Raphaël Jacquelin (50th), Romain Wattel (57th). 60 players engaged.
2017: Victor Dubuisson, Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Matthieu Pavon (13th), Alexander Levy (36th). 60 players engaged.
2018: Mike Lorenzo-Vera (30th), Alexander Levy (34th). 60 players engaged.
2019: Mike Lorenzo-Vera (3rd), Victor Perez (20th), Benjamin Hébert (38th), Romain Langasque (40th). 50 players engaged.
2020: Victor Perez (7th), Antoine Rozner (36th), Matthieu Pavon (54th), Benjamin Hébert (61st). 65 players entered. (Perez 6th in the Breed)
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