Graeme McDowell won the Alstom Open de France to claim his third title of “a funny year” that has brought either a missed cut or a victory in each of his last eight events.
McDowell carded a closing 67 at Le Golf National to finish nine under par, four clear of South Africa’s Richard Sterne, who had been only one behind until bogeys at the 16th and 17th.
Sterne eventually did well to par the 18th for a final round of 71 to make sure of outright second, with 2007 winner Graeme Storm and Spain’s Eduardo de la Riva a shot behind.
McDowell missed the cut in last week’s Irish Open but reaped the rewards of staying on at Carton House over the weekend to work on his game, the first prize of 500,000 euros taking him less than 30,000 behind US Open champion Justin Rose at the top of the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.
It should also lift McDowell from ninth to sixth when the world rankings are updated, with the Open Championship at Muirfield just around the corner.
“It’s very special after the last couple of months,” McDowell said. “It’s been a bit of a battle. It’s been a funny year.
“My game has not felt far away most weeks but I have missed a lot more cuts than normal and missing cuts hurts.
“It certainly motivated me a lot the last few weeks. The US Open was a tough one to take and missing the cut in Ireland last week … it made me more hungry to want to be in positions like I was this afternoon.
“This is such a difficult course here, we may have one of the greatest Ryder Cup venues in European golf history in 2018,” McDowell added.
* Marc Warren qualified for the Open Championship after edging out fellow Scot Stephen Gallacher by just £754.
The top five players, not already exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai after the French Open secured their place at Muirfield, with runner-up Richard Sterne, Brett Rumford, Mikko Ilonen, Thomas Bjorn and Warren the lucky quintet.