Pro Golf Now
Fansided

Alexander Levy levels the field to win Trophee Hassan II

By Mike Randleman

RABAT, MOROCCO - APRIL 22: Alexander Levy of France celebrates with the winners trophy after the final round of the Trophee Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam on April 22, 2018 in Rabat, Morocco. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
RABAT, MOROCCO - APRIL 22: Alexander Levy of France celebrates with the winners trophy after the final round of the Trophee Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam on April 22, 2018 in Rabat, Morocco. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Alexander Levy won his fifth European Tour event at the Trophee Hassan II

Any win on the European Tour is a big deal for a player. Alexander Levy’s win Sunday at the Trophee Hassan II just meant a little more.

Levy’s fifth career European Tour triumph not only put €416,660 in his pocket, but it sets him up well for the rest of 2018.

The 27-year-old Frenchman projects to move from No. 66 in the world to inside the top 50 (coincidentally, this week’s PGA Tour winner, Andrew Landry will take over the No. 66 slot).

That means Levy is a virtual lock to remain inside the coveted top 60 on the May 21 cutoff to earn a U.S. Open exemption.

Further, a good finish at next week’s Volvo China Open can ensure Levy remains in the top 50 by May 1 to gain entry into the PLAYERS Championship.

Perhaps above all else, Levy rose from No. 21 to 9 in the European Ryder Cup team points list. He’s firmly in the mix to qualify for Paris this fall either on his own or as a merited captain’s pick.

“Like what I said from the start of the season, I need to improve my game,” Levy was quoted by the European Tour. “I need to work a lot. I worked a lot the last two days, two weeks, and I won this trophy.”

“So that’s helped me but step by step, it’s a good win but I need to go back to work because we can see we have a lot of good players in Europe. So it will be tough to make it.”

How Alexander Levy took over at the Trophee Hassan II

How did Levy close out his one-shot victory over Alvaro Quiros, finishing at eight-under 280? Of little surprise, it was with his ballstriking.

Levy is fifth on the European Tour in greens in regulation and finished the same against the field this week.

Levy (72-69-69-70) went out in two-under 34 on the front nine to pass Quiros and a host of others on a bunched leaderboard.

More from Pro Golf Now

On a tough day, and week for that matter, for scoring, Levy’s six straight pars to begin the back nine stood up well. While his ballstriking stats stand out, watching Levy’s round was a clinic in timely scrambling.

No one in the pack made a hard charge, but a bogey on No. 16 by Levy opened the door for the likes of playing partner Erik Van Rooyen or Mikko Ilonen in the group behind to make one last gasp.

It never happened.

Levy responded with birdie on No. 17 and was fine with par on No. 18 as he kept the group of clubhouse leaders Andrea Pavan, Joakim Lagergren and Alexander Bjork at bay.

Quiros made birdie on No. 17 to pull within two, but could not make eagle on the par-5 18th.

He led after the first three rounds and recorded just his third top-three finish since 2011.

Quiros finished top 10 in the field in driving accuracy, driving and GIR but could not make enough putts Sunday to win for the first time since 20.

Next: Tiger Woods against Shinnecock at the U.S. Open

Chip shots

  • None of the leaders Sunday could go super low at the Red Course at Royal Dar es Salam.  Only Levy and Joakim Lagergren (-2) finished under par among the final three threesomes.
  • Andrea Pavan, however, had no trouble making birdies in the final round. His six-under 66 jumped him from 22nd to a tie for third place and tied Mikko Ilonen for low round of the tournament.
  • Andy Sullivan (T7, -5) posted his sixth straight finish of T34 and second top-10 in that span.
  • Other notable results: T9. Joost Luiten (-4); T13. Yusaku Miyazato (-2); T66. Thomas Pieters, 21-year-old Moroccan amateur Ayoub Id-Omar (+11); MC. Paul Dunne, defending champion Edoardo Molinari (+5), George Coetzee (+7), Pablo Larrazabal (+10).
  • The European Tour heads to a third continent in three weeks with the Volvo China Open April 26-29. Defending champion Levy, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Haotong Li are among the headliners.
Home/European tour