Alex Noren made up a deficit of 7 strokes, for the 2nd time in a Rolex Series event, to clinch the title of the HNA Open de France 2018 after a breathless finish.

Alex Noren winner of the 102nd French Open and Ms. Jenifer Noren - © TPlassais / SwingFeminin.com

7th on the leaderboard at the start of the day, he made up for it by showing a lot of control to sign a card of 67. The Spanish stars Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia as well as Chris Wood and the American Julian Suri all had their chance to pass young leader Marcus Kinhult. But each of them, Kinhult included, finally took the water on an Albatross leaving no room for error!

With -7 total, Noren, meanwhile, held on to secure his 10th victory on the European circuit. A “deja vu” scenario for the 35-year-old winner who won in exactly the same way at the BMW Championship at Wentworth in 2017.

Noren's young compatriot, Kinhult, in the lead for 2 days, was not the only one to experience the terrible course of the Albatross. Suddenly ahead of Suri at the start of the 18th, he found the water obstacle and signed a double bogey to finish in 69.

Garcia and Ram did not shine any better. The 2017 Masters winner Sergio Garcia returned a card of 74 with a double bogey at 18 and had to settle for an 8th place tied with world number 2 Justin Thomas.

His partner Jon Rahm did a triple bogey at 12 to finish in 72 and take 5th place.

Leader Saturday, Kinhult obtains as a consolation prize an invitation to the British Open at Carnourstie next month.

Mike Lorenzo-Vera is the best Frenchman of this edition, like last year, finishing tied for 16th.