Thomas Levet edged Britain’s Mark Foster by just one stroke to win the French Open at Le Golf National.
The Frenchman was three shots behind going into day four but his solid round of 70 put him at seven under in total.
Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen should have forced a play-off but somehow missed a four-foot putt on the last hole.
Britain’s James Morrison, the overnight leader, slumped to joint seventh place after a disappointing 78.
“The atmosphere today was great,” said Levet after his win.
“The people were going ‘allez, allez, allez’ and some of them go ‘captain, captain’ (in reference to the Ryder Cup, to be held in France in 2018). I felt like one of the Tour de France riders climbing a mountain.
“You can tell your friends, 2018, France is ready.”
The joint second finish means Foster misses out on a qualifying place for the Open in Sandwich later this month. Olesen took that honour because of his higher world ranking position.
Levet, who lost the 2002 Open after a five-hole play-off at Muirfield, qualified for Sandwich earlier in the month.
