AMERICAN PAOLINI SCORES FIRST PRO WIN ON CHALLENGE TOUR
CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT
FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Brinson
Paolini fired four rounds in the 60s en route to claiming a maiden
professional victory at Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge, in just his third
start on the
Challenge Tour.
The
American kept his cool in the heat of the final day at Golf PGA France
du Vaudreuil, carding a solitary bogey in his final 54 holes en route to
an impressive
score of 19 under par, at the end of a week disrupted by the weather.
For
much of the final day it had looked like Sihwan Kim would be the
recipient of the trophy at the inaugural staging of this event. However the South Korean's four-shot lead
with 18 holes to go evaporated after the turn, and a three putt bogey
on the last cost him a place in a play-off, as he fell into a share of
second place alongside Spain's Adrian Otaegui.
Paolini
was clearly overjoyed with his victory though, and it comes as no
surprise for a man who has enjoyed great amateur success the other side
of the Atlantic.
"It
is an incredible feeling, I don't think it will sink in until tomorrow
to be honest," explained Paolini. "To get a win in my third start as a
professional
is something that I could not have even dreamed of happening, so I'm
very happy.
"Switzerland
was my first event and I finished second and was in contention there,
which did a lot for my confidence, to know that I can play and compete
out here
at the highest level. I always enter tournaments trying to win, but it
is whether you believe that you can win or not, which is a different
battle. But I believed I could this week, and I'm just very grateful and
fortunate to be here."
"I
have no idea what my schedule will be going forward, as before I was
just trying to get a few starts here and there, so it is an amazing
feeling to know that
I have status here and have somewhere to play. I've got a good chance
now of perhaps getting my European Tour card too, which would be
incredible, so I'll sit down tonight and figure it all out."
Through
nine holes of the final round, and for much of the second and third
days, it had looked like the trophy would end up in the hands of Kim,
who led by at
least four strokes at numerous points.
However
five shots dropped round the turn saw the Korean fall a couple of shots
behind the leading players, and although he bounced back with birdies
at the 15th
and 17th, a costly bogey at the last saw him lose out.
Alongside
Kim in a share of second place was Otaegui, who carded three birdies on
his front nine en route to the top of the leaderboard as Kim dropped
back. However
a card bereft of red numbers on the final nine holes, as well as a
bogey at 14, saw him finish one shot shy of a play-off.
England's
Philip Archer (67) finished in a tie for fourth in France, thanks in
part to two consecutive eagles from the seventh on Sunday, the same mark
as Dylan
Frittelli (68), Daan Huizing (68) and Duncan Stewart (68), all of whom
finished at 17 under par.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
269 B Paolini (USA) 69 66 66 68
270 S Kim (SKor) 65 64 67 74, A Otaegui (Esp) 68 65 67 70
271 D Frittelli (RSA) 64 66 73 68, D Huizing (Ned) 61 72 70 68, P Archer (Eng) 70 67 67 67, D Stewart (Sco) 66 66 71 68
272 J McLeary (Sco) 68 69 71 64, A Velasco (Esp) 66 71 69 66,
273
C Kim (USA) 67 65 73 68, L Kennedy (Eng) 68 68 69 68, E Espana (Fra)
64 66 71 72, J Barnes (Eng) 63 71 69 70, A Johnston (Eng) 64 69 70 70
274
M Haastrup (Den) 71 68 66 69, J Lima (Por) 65 69 72 68, S Fallon
(Eng) 69 70 66 69, J Gibb (Eng) 71 65 68 70, P Maddy (Eng) 67 70 67 70
275
G Cambis (Fra) 71 69 68 67, H Joannes (Bel) 67 70 69 69, L Weber
(Fra) 64 70 67 74, S Tiley (Eng) 71 68 70 66, F Calmels (Fra) 64 72 69
70, J Fahrbring
(Swe) 66 70 69 70, J Carlsson (Swe) 68 67 68 72, G Stal (Fra) 70 70 65
70, C Sordet (am) (Fra) 70 69 71 65
276
J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 72 67 67 70, J Jeong (Kor) 71 68 67 70, B Evans
(Eng) 69 69 66 72, B Hebert (Fra) 66 70 70 70, R Quiros (Esp) 66 71
70 69, M Jonzon
(Swe) 68 68 71 69
277
J Dantorp (Swe) 70 70 72 65, S Piaget (Mon) 70 69 68 70, S Garcia
Rodriguez (Esp) 66 71 69 71, S Hutsby (Eng) 69 69 69 70, T Murray (Eng)
69 70 66 72, R
Steiner (Aut) 69 69 69 70
278
J Legarrea (Esp) 69 69 70 70, R Marguery (Fra) 65 74 70 69, J Abbott
(Eng) 70 69 71 68, M Ford (Eng) 71 67 69 71, L Goddard (Eng) 69 70 69
70, B An (Kor)
68 70 70 70
279 N Kearney (Irl) 67 68 74 70
280
J Howarth (Eng) 70 68 71 71, M Rominger (Sui) 70 68 68 74, M Zions
(Aus) 69 69 72 70, B Chapellan (Fra) 69 70 62 79, J Heath (Eng) 69 67
72 72, R Russell
(Sco) 69 71 71 69
281 G Murray (Sco) 71 69 69 72, J Gressier (Fra) 70 66 72 73, W Besseling (Ned) 68 68 70 75
282 C Russo (Fra) 67 70 73 72, J Mikkelsen (Nor) 72 68 71 71,
283 A Bernadet (Fra) 69 71 72 71
285 M Bey (Fra) 69 69 75 72
286 L Canter (Eng) 69 71 73 73
287 O Whiteley (Eng) 68 71 73 75
289 D Ulrich (Sui) 69 71 72 77
290 T Haylock (Eng) 70 70 75 75
Labels: CHALLENGE TOUR
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