Frederic Lacroix overturned a four stroke final round deficit as he won his maiden DP World Tour title at the Danish Golf Championship, while Tom McKibbin racked up another top-10 finish.
After an opening 74 that left him well outside the cutline, the 21-year-old Holywood man can be satisfied with his week’s work, even briefly playing his way into championship contention with an incredible eagle-birdie-birdie start to round three before the leaders got underway.
His final round consisted of two birdies on the outward nine before a disappointing bogey on the par-5 ninth. Another birdie on 10 was the ideal start to the final nine holes, but an unusually poor tee shot on the 13th was followed by a relatively poor chip and then an inexplicable three-putt from 35 feet which included a miss from 20 inches, resulted in a double bogey five.
His growing maturity was on display as he shook it off by birdieing the next and he rolled in an eight-footer for another birdie on 16 to take him to -7 and that’s how he’d end the week, finishing tied for 10th and climbing one place to 13th on the Race to Dubai.
29-year-old Lacroix carded a bogey-free six under par 65 to win by four strokes at Lübker Golf Resort as he made it back-to-back winners for France in consecutive seasons on the DP World Tour after Antoine Rozner and Victor Perez in 2023, following on from David Ravetto’s victory at last week’s D+D REAL Czech Masters.
Starting the day four strokes behind 54-hole leader Lucas Bjerregaard, he quickly made ground after a birdie at the first and then moved into a share of the lead on 11 under par after birdies on the fifth and seventh holes.
Lacroix then raced three shots ahead of the chasing pack shortly after the turn, making further gains on the tenth and 12th. A sixth birdie of the day on the par three 15th saw him move four strokes clear with three to play, securing his first DP World Tour title on his 57th start as he closed out his round with successive pars.
“It’s hard to realise yet, it will come a bit later,” said an emotional Lacroix afterwards. “I was just happy to finish my round. I had a good round, bogey-free today. So I’m very happy with how I did today.
“I’ve been close a few times, especially this year. I’ve just been improving the past few years, slowly but steadily. I just kept doing my thing and it’s nice to see it come together with the win today.
“It’s more seeing my friend David (Ravetto) win last week. It shows that it’s possible, it’s more than doable. I’m just lost for words now.”
Countryman Romain Langasque and home-favourite Bjerregaard were unable to mount late charges as they finished on ten under par, sharing second place. Langasque carded a final round level par 71, while Bjerregaard finished two over on the day.
Ravetto followed his victory last week with a fourth-placed finish on nine under after a four under par final round and five golfers shared fifth one stroke further back, including Amateur Champion Jacob Skov Olesen who made his regular DP World Tour debut this week.
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