RAYMOND RUSSELL FINISHES JOINT TENTH IN CZECH CHALLENGE
Smoking hot Calmels wins action-packed Czech Challenge
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François Calmels fired a sizzling 11
birdies in a final-round 65 to come from behind and win his second
Challenge Tour title of the season at the D+D Real Czech Challenge Open.
The Frenchman, who began the day three
shots off the lead at Golf & Spa Kunetická Hora, finished with an
aggregate score of 22 under par, three clear of the English trio of
Robert Dinwiddie, overnight leader Adam Gee and Sam Walker to pick
up a cheque for €25,600 and with it move to second in the 2013
Challenge Tour Rankings.
The Parisian’s stunning seven under
par 65 – that included seven birdies in eight holes from the ninth – was
not only the lowest final round by a winner this season but also the
largest comeback on a Sunday seen this campaign.
Three Scots made it to the final day and Raymond Russell was the best of it, making it to joint 10th place on 274, eight shots behind the winner.
It was an action-packed final day all
round, meanwhile, as American Brooks Koepka climbed 36 places up the
leaderboard into a tie for seventh thanks to a magnificent course record
62 that featured two eagles and six birdies, while Italy’s
Nicolo Ravano holed out at the par three 17th to win a Peugeot 3008.
But, ultimately, the day belonged to Calmels.
The 31 year old fell further behind
after mixing two bogeys with two birdies from the second as Gee
solidified his lead with two gains on the front nine, but as the
Londoner made his opening bogey of the day at the tenth Calmel swooped
with a simply staggering run of golf.
After making birdie at the long
seventh, Calmels fired six birdies in succession from the ninth –
including a 40-foot putt at the 11th, a 35-footer at the 13th and a host of others from over 12 feet – to take control
as Gee parred his way in.
And despite bogeys at the 15th and 17th bringing the field back within two, Calmels was calmness personified in holing out for an 11th birdie of the day at the last to secure an impressive three-shot triumph.
“This is totally different to my first
win because there I was leading and just built from there, whereas
today I started quite far back,” said Calmels, who also won in April at
the Challenge de Madrid.
“I was struggling a lot at the start
but then during that birdie stretch I played incredible and made every
putt. I saw that guys were four shots better than me during the front
nine but I kept telling myself, ‘You’re playing good!’ and
I knew that if I could start holing some putts I could put up a fight.
Much like Koepka, who currently heads
the Challenge Tour Rankings after two wins of his own this season,
Calmels is now within one victory of automatic promotion to The European
Tour, this after struggling to 122nd and 116th
place finishes in the money list in the previous two years.
He credits much of his return to form
to girlfriend Jade Schaeffer, a professional golfer on the Ladies
European tour for whom he caddied at the Ladies German Open last week,
and identified a more philosophical approach to the game being
at the heart of his success this year.
“It’s been a very good start to the
season,” he continued, “but I’m still mainly just looking to finish top
ten at the finish. If I manage to win a third one then great but I’m not
going to get too caught up in it.
“It is surprising, though. I have had
terrible seasons the last couple of years and so I have been very sad.
This year I have tried to make golf a happy thing again; if you make
bogey, you make bogey.
“Golf is purely a mental game; if you
have a good feeling then you play well. My girlfriend Jade has helped a
lot since the Qualifying School with this and when I was with her last
week I would say the same things to her that I have said
to myself all week.
“What that is is a secret, maybe I will tell you if I win a third one!”
Final scores:
266 F Calmels (Fra) 67 69 65 65,
269 A Gee (Eng) 66 66 66 71, S Walker (Eng) 71 65 67 66, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 68 64 72 65,
270 A Otaegui (Esp) 64 68 68 70,
271 A Pavan (Ita) 68 64 68 71,
272 C Aguilar (Esp) 65 67 70 70, B Koepka (USA) 70 71 69 62, A Domingo (Esp) 66 67 70 69,
274 R Russell (Sco) 67 67 71 69, C Hanson (Eng) 71 68 64 71, J Lima (Por) 69 72 67 66,
275 L Kennedy (Eng) 69 65 68 73, B An (Kor) 68 72 68 67,
276 J Lando Casanova (Fra) 68 67 69
72, O Farr (Wal) 67 70 70 69, M Ford (Eng) 66 73 63 74, M Crespi (Ita)
70 68 68 70, D Frittelli (RSA) 67 69 72 68,
277 W Besseling (Ned) 71 70 68 68, S Davis (Eng) 71 69 70 67, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 72 68 69 68,
278 B Hebert (Fra) 68 67 72 71, N Ravano (Ita) 66 70 71 71, J Guerrier (Fra) 67 69 71 71,
279 S Tiley (Eng) 70 71 71 67, B Parker (Eng) 67 72 67 73, C Suneson (Esp) 72 68 70 69, G Shaw (Nir) 69 69 69 72,
280 T Fournier (Fra) 70 69 70 71, B
Ritthammer (Ger) 69 70 70 71, J Fahrbring (Swe) 68 68 73 71, S Garcia
Rodriguez (Esp) 73 66 68 73, O Lieser (Cze) 69 70 71 70, L Claverie
(Esp) 71 70 66 73, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 69 65 71 75, P Oriol
(Esp) 67 69 73 71, N Meitinger (Ger) 71 69 71 69,
281 J Heath (Eng) 70 69 67 75, A Bossert (Sui) 70 71 69 71, O Rozner (Fra) 69 70 68 74, G Houston (Wal) 67 71 71 72,
282 A McArthur (Sco) 67 71 71 73, S Matus (Cze) 70 68 72 72, S Manley (Wal) 72 67 73 70,
283 S Fallon (Eng) 70 70 74 69, L
Bjerregaard (Den) 66 75 69 73, C Brazillier (Fra) 71 69 68 75, M Sell
(Eng) 71 68 70 74, K Borsheim (Nor) 72 68 69 74, B Hemstock (Eng) 73
67 72 71, D Ulrich (Sui) 68 68 72 75,
284 L Richard (Bel) 70 70 72 72, F McGuirk (Eng) 64 69 73 78, J Mommo (Fin) 72 69 73 70, M Trappel (Aut) 72 67 73 72,
285 D Geminiani (Ita) 73 68 72 72, N Quintarelli (Ita) 70 71 75 69, C Russo (Fra) 67 71 72 75,
286 C Gane (Eng) 66 74 75 71, J
Doherty (Sco) 67 73 73 73, L Corfield (Eng) 69 68 71 78, J Huldahl
(Den) 77 64 71 74, N Elvira (Esp) 68 70 76 72, C Devlin (Nir) 69 72 73
72,
289 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 72 71 77, G Cambis (Fra) 71 69 73 76,
290 J Watts (Eng) 68 73 73 76,
300 M Haines (Eng) 67 73 79 81,
** L Tintera (Cze) 71 70 92 WD, S Kim (Kor) 65 72 RT 0,
142 T Remkes (Ned) 70 72 0 0, T
Murray (Eng) 67 75 0 0, N Kearney (Irl) 71 71 0 0, A Bernadet (Fra) 72
70 0 0, J Senior (Eng) 72 70 0 0, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 72 0 0, D
Stewart (Sco) 68 74 0 0, A Johansson (Swe) 72 70 0 0, S Whiffin (Eng)
74 68 0 0, J Dantorp (Swe) 70 72 0 0, F Praegant (Aut) 71 71 0 0, R
Hjelm (Den) 72 70 0 0, M Haastrup (Den) 71 71 0 0,
143 A Rota (Ita) 74 69 0 0, F De
Vries (Ned) 71 72 0 0, L Weber (Fra) 72 71 0 0, H Bacher (Aut) 71 72 0
0, R Kellett (Sco) 69 74 0 0, J Abbott (Eng) 72 71 0 0, D Griffiths
(Eng) 73 70 0 0, I Korvenmaa (Fin) 72 71 0 0, M McGeady (Irl)
75 68 0 0, W Booth (Sco) 72 71 0 0, J Hepworth (Eng) 73 70 0 0, J
Clément (Sui) 74 69 0 0, Š Zach (am) (Cze) 74 69 0 0,
144 P Maddy (Eng) 74 70 0 0, S
Jeppesen (Swe) 76 68 0 0, F Colombo (Ita) 72 72 0 0, J Carlsson (Swe)
75 69 0 0, J Moul (Eng) 75 69 0 0, A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 71 73 0 0, J
Wahlqvist (Swe) 75 69 0 0, J McLeary (Sco) 70 74 0 0,
145 G Piris Mateu (Esp) 72 73 0 0, O
Wilson (Eng) 74 71 0 0, J Bragulat (Esp) 73 72 0 0, P Relecom (Bel) 74
71 0 0, J Ruth (Eng) 73 72 0 0, T Nørret (Den) 74 71 0 0, A Ahokas
(Fin) 76 69 0 0, N Floren (Swe) 71 74 0 0, S O'Hara (Sco)
70 75 0 0,
146 F Laporta (Ita) 74 72 0 0, J
Mikkelsen (Nor) 71 75 0 0, B Chapellan (Fra) 74 72 0 0, D Wuensche
(Ger) 74 72 0 0, P Dwyer (Eng) 74 72 0 0, F Svanberg (Sui) 73 73 0 0, J
Pastor Lopez (Esp) 77 69 0 0, D Perrier (Fra) 76 70 0 0,
147 J Whitehouse (Aus) 75 72 0 0, N
Lemke (Swe) 71 76 0 0, Z Scotland (Eng) 76 71 0 0, J Winer (Eng) 74 73 0
0, C Aronsen (Nor) 73 74 0 0, A Hansen (Den) 74 73 0 0, G Dear (Sco)
75 72 0 0, J Lerchedahl (Den) 76 71 0 0,
148 R Nechanicky (Cze) 75 73 0 0, R Schovanek (Cze) 73 75 0 0,
149 P Nic (Cze) 78 71 0 0, M Novy (Cze) 75 74 0 0, X Ruiz Fonhof (Ned) 75 74 0 0, N Dougherty (Eng) 75 74 0 0,
150 R Hahn (Hun) 75 75 0 0, D Suchan (am) (Cze) 75 75 0 0,
151 M Haremza (Ger) 77 74 0 0, P Svajlen (Svk) 76 75 0 0, J Bares (am) (Cze) 79 72 0 0,
152 J Gibb (Eng) 77 75 0 0, F Juhaniak (Cze) 77 75 0 0, F Mruzek (Cze) 78 74 0 0,
153 M Veijalainen (Fin) 82 71 0 0,
154 P Edberg (Swe) 79 75 0 0, J Stryncl (Cze) 80 74 0 0, D Zelinka (am) (Cze) 80 74 0 0,
156 C Ford (Eng) 76 80 0 0,
157 W Wray (Eng) 77 80 0 0, A Engell (Nor) 78 79 0 0,
158 L Lizanek (Cze) 81 77 0 0,
159 J Krejcar (Cze) 82 77 0 0, A Rajmont (am) (Cze) 83 76 0 0,
171 P Dedek (am) (Cze) 86 85 0 0,
** M Kratochvil (am) (Cze) DQ 0 0 0,
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