Law, Whiteford and Doherty tied for ninth place in Challenge Tour French event

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Scott Arnold rallied to a maiden European Challenge Tour title as the Australian toppled Dutchman Daan Huizing with an impressive back nine performance to earn a two shot victory at the Cordon Golf Open. The former World Amateur Number One entered the day one shot off Huizing’s lead but an impressive three under back nine earned him a two under par 68 and a first title on European soil. The 28 year old was three shots back when he reached the turn but his playing partner from the Netherlands dropped three shots in the space of four holes and Arnold capitalised in ruthless fashion with back to back birdies at the 15th and 16th. He finished two clear of Huizing and Englishman James Robinson, who signed for a four under 66 to equal the best round of the day and finish on seven under par for the tournament, earning his best Challenge Tour finish in the process. The day was all about Arnold, however, who made the cut at this year’s Open Championship, and he was delighted to have finally lifted a trophy in his second full season on the Challenge Tour, having played The European Tour in 2013 after coming through Qualifying School. “It my first win on Challenge Tour so it’s really exciting,” said the Sydney player. “It’s my birthday next week so it’s like an early present. I have a flight to catch this afternoon, I think it’ll only hit me then.  “The more times you can put yourself into a position to win titles, the more you get used to the people and the crowds around.  “I think when I played The Open this year, it really helped me. That was really good, I felt pretty comfortable out there. I was a little bit nervous today but it was more that I had to focus on what I was doing and hit some targets. “I looked at the leaderboard for the first time on my way to the 16th green and I saw that I had a two shot lead, but I still had two holes to go so I was telling myself not to get carried away, because if you make one or two bad shots it can quickly turn into bogeys.  “So I’d rather make solid Pars, hit the fairways, hit the greens. It would have been nice to finish with a birdie but I didn’t make the putt. It’s a very good day though.” Huizing, meanwhile, was disappointed not to have claimed a third Challenge Tour title having helped the lead for so long, but praised Arnold’s performance. “I felt pretty good all day, just with the same focus as the last few days - to just go out and play, don’t really bother with the rest, just play my game and see where I stand coming down the back nine.  “I was doing that well, I started pretty good. I had a good birdie on seven, went one under. On eight I hit it on the green, hit a good first putt and with the second putt there was something in my line and didn’t worry about it and putted anyway and that’s where I missed up, just throwing away shots. “On 14, I made a bad choice of clubs because the wind changed, which made it quite tricky, but again I got back in play on the green, made a good first putt but missed a short one and again, so that was a really unnecessary three-putt. Scott played really well, I feel like I had it in my own hands but he did well to finish it off.” Three-time Challenge Tour winner Sam Walker of England was one of five players tied for fourth place on six under, as was Clement Berardo, who held the honour of being the highest-placed Frenchman. Three Scots - first-round leader David Law, Peter Whiteford and Jack Doherty - all finished T9 on 275 and earned 4,120 euros apiece. Whiteford and Doherty shot in the 60s. In fact, if Law, who had a two-over 72, had duplicated Doherty's closing 67 he would have won the tournament with a 270 aggregate.  FINAL TOTALS Par 280 (4x70) 271 S Arnold  (Aus) 71 65 67 68,  273 D Huizing (Ned) 68 68 66 71, J Robinson (Eng) 69 69 69 66,  274 J Hahn (USA) 71 70 64 69, C Berardo (Fra) 73 67 65 69, G Shaw (Nir) 70 69 68 67, S Walker (Eng) 67 73 68 66, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 67 68 70 69,  275 P Whiteford (Sco) 68 71 67 69, C Selfridge  (Nir) 69 67 67 72, J Doherty  (Sco) 66 70 72 67, D Law (Sco) 64 69 70 72, H Joannes  (Bel) 68 70 69 68,  276 F Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 68 71 67, J Dantorp (Swe) 67 73 67 69, J Sjöholm (Swe) 74 67 64 71, R Enoch  (Wal) 70 69 66 71, N Turner (Irl) 68 69 73 66,  277 T Remkes (Ned) 68 69 70 70, R Fox (Nzl) 72 68 64 73, S Hodgson (Eng) 71 71 66 69,  278 S Heisele (Ger) 71 70 70 67, N Bertasio (Ita) 70 71 66 71, J Fahrbring (Swe) 70 67 69 72,  279 J Winther (Den) 70 71 68 70, D Stewart (Sco) 71 70 69 69,  280 S Einhaus (Ger) 68 74 67 71, S Kim (USA) 74 68 67 71, R Coles (Eng) 68 72 70 70, N Geyger (Chi) 71 71 67 71,  281 S Manley (Wal) 68 70 72 71, J Adarraga Gomez  (Esp) 67 72 69 73, T Anderson  (Eng) 70 72 68 71, D Nouailhac (Fra) 72 69 67 73, M Søgaard  (Den) 67 68 72 74, N Ravano (Ita) 67 70 72 72, A Saddier (Fra) 67 69 75 70, S Gros (Fra) 74 67 64 76, A Björk (Swe) 71 70 69 71, B Åkesson (Swe) 68 72 70 71, M McGeady (Irl) 67 71 67 76,  282 M Orrin (Eng) 69 68 74 71, F Praegant (Aut) 70 72 69 71,  283 N Lemke (Swe) 67 72 71 73, C Gloet  (Den) 69 69 70 75, L Gagli  (Ita) 73 68 70 72, P Tarver-Jones (Eng) 71 71 68 73, O Stark (Swe) 74 66 72 71, B Parker  (Eng) 69 71 71 72, M Delpodio  (Ita) 70 66 70 77,  284 W Harrold (Eng) 71 71 70 72, S Soderberg (Swe) 68 69 73 74, G Woolgar (Eng) 70 69 68 77,  285 C Ford (Eng) 74 68 66 77, G Houston (Wal) 71 71 70 73, P Relecom  (Bel) 70 72 70 73, A Widemann (Fra) 70 65 76 74, R Langasque (am) (Fra) 69 72 68 76,  286 C Arendell (USA) 73 68 73 72,  287 A Hartø  (Den) 68 73 72 74, S Fallon (Eng) 75 67 72 73,  289 A Bernadet  (Fra) 72 66 76 75,  291 C Sordet  (Fra) 72 70 74 75, C Aguilar  (Esp) 73 68 75 75,  293 M Rocchi  (Fra) 67 74 79 73,  297 C Tortuyaux (Fra) 76 66 79 76,  - Ends -