Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune seals surprise French Open win
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Ryo Hisatsune of Japan tees off during round one of the Mandiri Indonesia Open.
PHOTO: AFP
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SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES – Ryo Hisatsune made a back-nine charge to claim the French Open on Sunday and become only the third Japanese golfer to win on the DP World’s European Tour.
The 21-year-old, in his rookie season, was lying four shots off the lead overnight and seemingly out of contention.
But a brilliant back nine of 30, courtesy of five birdies, left him signing for a final-day 66 to finish 14-under 270 at Le Golf National.
“I’m flying back to Japan tomorrow. I might upgrade to business class now,” he joked after this landmark win.
“I had confidence today and also a lot of luck.
“I didn’t think of the result on the back nine, just concentrating on my golf.”
England’s Jordan Smith (72) and Dane Jeff Winther (65) tied for second, two shots back.
Another Dane, Rasmus Hojgaard, was at 11 under, one clear of Austrian Lukas Nemecz (both 68) and two ahead of local favourite Julien Brun (70), Japan’s Kazuki Higa (74), South Korean Tom Kim (68) and German Yannik Paul (73).
Hisatsune, who secured his European Tour card less than 12 months ago, emulates Isao Aoki, Japan’s first tour winner at the 1983 European Open, and Hideki Matsuyama, winner of the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions who went on to win the 2021 Masters.
Le Golf National is the venue for the Olympic golf tournament at the Paris 2024 Games.
Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau birdied three of his last five holes to win the LIV Golf Chicago title on Sunday when Anirban Lahiri missed an eight-foot par putt on the 18th hole.
DeChambeau, who began the day eight adrift, fired an eight-under 63 in the closing round at Rich Harvest Farms in suburban Chicago to finish 54 holes on 13-under 200.
That was good enough to give the 30-year-old American a one-stroke triumph over Australian Marc Leishman (66) and India’s Lahiri (69), who led most of the last round and would have forced a play-off with a closing par.
It made for a bittersweet victory for DeChambeau, captain of the triumphant Crushers team whose line-up includes Lahiri.
“I wanted to be in a play-off with Ban,” DeChambeau said. “He has worked his butt off all year.
“I couldn’t be happier that I won but I feel so bad for Ban. I wanted to go into a play-off and battle it out with my brother. I love him to death. He’s a grinder.”
DeChambeau could capture the overall title in the Saudi-backed series with a victory in the regular-season finale in Saudi Arabia in October.
Lahiri, a four-time LIV Golf runner-up, last won in February 2015 with European Tour triumphs at the Malaysian Open and Indian Open. AFP
