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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 his 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Photo: \u00a9Alexis Orloff \/ ffgolfproduction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-showcase"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t