Oliver Bekker made only five pars on Sunday in the closing round of the Challenge Tour’s Open de Bretagne at Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André in Pleneuf, France as he carded a four-under-par 66 to finish in a share of 10th.
He made nine birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey to reach six-under-par for the tournament as he finished seven strokes behind the winner Julien Brun of France. Brun had a two-stroke margin over American Chase Hanna and long-time co-leader and countryman Jerome Lando Casanova.
Bekker opened up with a pair of pars, but then he made his double on the third. He steadied the ship with a par on four, and then he made three birdies in succession on five, six and seven. Hi picked up one more on the ninth after dropping a shot on the eighth. He got going again with a birdie on the 10th, bogeyed the 12th, birdied 13, bogeyed 14, and then made three birdies in his four closing holes.
While he will be happy with the outcome, he knows that eliminating the dropped shots – there were five in four holes – will give him even better results. He slipped on spot to seventh in the Challenge Tour rankings, and that will annoy him as he continues his attempt to finish inside the top 25 on the Road to Mallorca to win a European Tour card.
Hennie du Plessis carded a two-over 72 in the final round to finish the tournament on two-under in a share of 29th. Jacques Blaauw had a closing three-over 73 as he ended up in a share of 41st. They slipped to 39th and 22nd respectively on the Challenge Tour rankings.
