25-year-old South African Thriston Lawrence (photo) won the prestigious Swiss meeting after a play-off against Englishman Matt Wallace. Racing Club de France La Boulie player Antoine Rozner finished 4th.
Winner of the very first tournament stamped ” DP World Tour« , the Joburg Open end of 2021, the South African Sad Lawrence at the age of 25, offered himself a second title on the European circuit, the first on the Old Continent, by winning theOmega European Masters in Crans-sur-Sierre (Switzerland).
.@ThristonL wins the @omegaEUmasters ???? #OEM2022 pic.twitter.com/3l4t9aAyhq
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 28, 2022
In this prestigious event, which has taken place in the marvelous setting of Crans Montana since 1972 and which has notably devoted three times Seve Ballesteros (but also Jeff Lucquin in 2008), the colossus from Sunshine Tour led the tournament from the first to the last round, since Thursday, he had already taken control thanks to a 62 (-8).
The 129th in the world started this Sunday with three strokes ahead of Matt Wallace, but his Sunday in the Valais was not a long calm river. The tough Englishman, four times winner on the DP World Tour before an unconvincing exodus on the PGA Tourindeed gave him a hard time, in what looked like a hands and hands between the two men.
Caddyed by the French Sam Bernard, Wallace even stuck to Lawrence two holes from the end. Pars on holes 17 and 18 sent both men into the play-off. After a slightly long 9-iron shot, Wallace conceded a fatal three-putt to hand the victory almost on a plateau to Lawrence.
Rozner on the rise
Antoine Rozner could almost have upset the duel of the two leaders. The Racingman has indeed pulled out all the stops between holes 5 and 10 (played at -5). He even grazed the hole in one on the par 4 of the 7 to come within 5 strokes of the head!
FYI – it’s a par 4 @AntoineRozner ????
Almost a hole-in-one on a the 7th with an iron!#OEM2022 pic.twitter.com/AhNQHVe0Vt
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 28, 2022
Long on the podium, he missed opportunities for birdies on the return, especially on par 5 of holes 14 and 15. But the Frenchman finished in a very good 4th place (ex-aequo) which propelled him to 59th place in the ranking European (ex-Race to Dubai). A great week then!
Behind Antoine Rozner, Julian Brown is the best Frenchman with a nice 16th place. A result conquered thanks to a solid 66 (-4) final. The other Blues are further away. Matthew Pavon, Robin Roussel, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, Mike Lorenzo Vera et Benjamin Hebert are out of the “top 50”.
Top 10
The other French
They missed the cut
©European Tour